SEALs
by CarribbeanLady
Summary: AH. Lt Edward Masen and his Navy SEALs are on a mission to stop terrorist groups in a small African country. Bella Swan the journalist has been dumped on them to protect while she documents the lives of people in the war zone. M for language and violence.
1. Chapter 1

******_WARNING: The following story contains violence, coarse language and mature subjects. Readers discretion is advised._**

******Lieutenant Edward Masen and his troop of Navy SEALs have been stationed in the African country of Tembo Bara where a civil war has broken out allowing citizens to be manipulated into joining terrorist groups.**

******In the midst of this, journalist Isabella Swan has been dumped on Edward to protect as she documents their missions. Being attracted to the woman in the middle of the chaos is not what Lt. Masen is ready for but love is not something anyone can control, even a Navy SEAL.**

**Disclaimer: **Roses are red, violets are blue. I don't own Twilight, so please don't sue!

**x_x_x_x _x_x_x**

"Twenty-one! I win!"

"Emmett, that's not twenty-one."

"It sure as hell is! Look!"

"No it's not. It's nineteen. Do you even know how to count?"

"Will you two shut the hell up?" I growled, turning from my post to glare at them as they sat against the disintegrating wall. They both looked up at me with annoyance evident in their faces.

"Why should we?" Emmett snapped, tossing his cards back at Jasper who collected them off the dirty cement they were sitting on to shuffle them again.

"Because we're on a stake out!" I hissed before turning away from their stupid card game and raising the NVGs* to my eyes. "Ass hole." I muttered under my breath.

"I heard that!"

I hissed at him to shut up again and he grunted in response before they started another game of twenty-one with Jasper's deck of cards. Rolling my eyes I stared out at the dark city instead.

My team was stationed here on a crumbling building's roof as we watched the dark city sleep. It wasn't much of a city as it was a town. A small African town riddled with the poor who slept within it. The village that was known as Pemoja was close to the capital of Tembo Bara, the country we were now stationed in.

It wasn't much of a united country anymore. It was the reason we were here in the first place. All army personnel and anyone the United Nations could get their hands on were here. The reason was of an odd sort of civil war which had the people pitted against the government. It turned into insanity as the poor back lashed against the people who were making their lives the way it was. It was the government's fault for refusing international aid to their own citizens when they so desperately needed it.

So what group decided to take advantaged of this situation? The terrorist groups that used to be in Afghanistan had somehow found their way across the countries between and was building up their followers in the broken down country of Tembo Bara. It wasn't difficult to do either. Young men were willing to join if they were taught to believe it would help their country. Taught being the key word. They were easy to manipulate and so began to the fight to not only gain aid to the people but to stop the terrorists from making any other moves into the country.

It had been difficult for the UN to talk the Tembo Baran government into allowing the troops into the country. They believed 'where there was international troops, there was aid.' They didn't want help. They foolishly believed they could handle it all on their own. But when the people went back against them they suddenly decided they needed our help.

As Navy SEALs we had been called in to defuse the situation. We were to be on defence for the people, protecting them from the terrorist's manipulations and from each other, and offence to defeat and drive out the dangerous insurgents.

Our mission at the moment was to find and remove any and all hidden weapons used by the terrorist group. It was the reason we were sitting on a rooftop, under a blanket of stars at that very moment. The reason why we had been staking out this one run down building a little ways down the street for a good three hours. The reason Jasper and Emmett were arguing about another game of cards.

"I swear to God Emmett. When did you go to school?" Jasper seethed, dropping his hand of cards.

"Oh! We're using insults now? Cause I got a whole bunch for you bucko!" Emmett growled.

I sighed before slouching back down on the small wall that surrounded the perimeter of the building's roof. It gave me a great look out spot for the place we were supposed to be watching which so far had no movement.

Jasper, Emmett and I had been friends since the beginning of our SEALs training. I still remember how we ended up doing push up's beside each other on the first day of training in November, at five am while the instructors hosed us down with freezing cold water. It had been a brutal first day and men were already dropping out after twenty-four hours but we stayed strong and became a team in every exercise. Of course there were some failures but we'd get right back up and do it again until we got it just right. It was the reason we were here now and able to call ourselves Navy SEALs.

I'd grown up in Chicago, Illinois with my parents Edward and Elizabeth Masen and sister Alice. It was obvious I had been named after my father and when I was young it was embarrassing to admit that but now I felt proud to carry his name. He was a successful lawyer and I had been ready to follow in his footsteps until I found my true calling. Medicine. They were both happy for me and said that I should go to school and become a doctor. I was ecstatic and ready to start my education right out of high school but that's when I found the Navy. I suddenly felt like I had to go and sign up since that's what real men did, right? My father was proud of me either way but my mother was hesitant and wanted me to go into college instead. She'd heard how difficult that life was and she was worried about me. I brushed it off and told her I'd be fine. I'd been very naïve when I enlisted in the Navy at nineteen.

Two years of Navy service and I found myself travelling to places I never dreamed I would see. I spent most of those years on a ships and carriers cruising around in the world's vast oceans. I learned new things, met and made amazing friends and enjoyed the seaman's life. Of course everything was not hunky dory all the time. I'd seen and heard things I wished never to speak of again and they were left to sear into my brain, becoming memories I could not dispose of. I'd been through storms in the sea and felt vulnerable while wondering if I'd ever make it out alive. But luck always seemed to be with me.

So after those two years I decided I wanted to do something even better. Since I was nineteen I had been able to tell everyone I was apart of the Navy but I wanted to step it up even more. I wanted to be able to call myself a Navy SEAL. And so I tried and succeeded, getting into the SEALs pre-training. They weren't lying when they said it would be difficult, I almost gave up and came home but then I thought about how far I'd come. I just couldn't give up. So I stayed and passed into the Basic Underwater Demolitions/SEAL, or the BUD/S training.

Of course while doing my first try at BUD/S I got injured and had to drop out. I'd been devastated and my self esteem plummeted. I started to think of myself as weak and just decided to lie around the house for months afterward. My little sister Alice wasn't having that. She set me straight and told to "stop being such fucking cry baby and try again." So with her enthusiasm I did go back to training which was where I met the guys of my future team.

Jasper Whitlock was one of those old town, down west country boys straight from the state of Texas. He was quick, intelligent, charismatic and able to read people's emotions easily. His mother and father owned a large ranch and offered to hand the reins (no pun intended) over to him but he refused, wanting to get out of the south and travel instead. So he did and went to the army to both prove himself strong and to travel all over the world. A few years after being in the US Army one of his friends suggested he try becoming a Navy SEAL. He did and the three of us became quick friends. After that first day I even invited him and Emmett to spend a few days in Chicago with my family. That's when Jasper met Alice and they instantly hit it off. It was funny to see how hesitant he was around me when he asked if he could date my sister. Why would I say no? Jazz was a complete gentleman and Alice was enraptured by him. So it wasn't soon after that year's Christmas that he proposed and they got married. I was sad to say that his duty to the SEALs had brought him away from his now pregnant wife. Alice was close to giving birth and I felt depressed that neither I nor Jasper could be there for her. No matter how annoying my little sister could be I'd always love her and it sucked that I'd have to miss the birth of my niece or nephew. At least my parents would be there for her.

Now Emmett McCarty was a whole other story. His reason for joining the US Army was, and I quote: "To pick up chicks! Dude, the ladies dig a man in a uniform." Ah Em. A man of many words. But I had to give him credit, he was loyal and even though he looked rough on the outside he was a complete gushy guy on the inside. Not so much the romantic but enough to get him a tall, leggy, blond named Rosalie. I had to admit, she was gorgeous but defiantly not my type. I preferred brunettes. I would say a friend of his suggested the Navy SEALs to him but it was more of a bet since that's what a lot of Emmett's friends were like. It seems he won the bet.

"No movement?" Mamun asked me as he moved to sit beside me on the wall. I shook my head at him. Mamun Iman (or Moony as we liked to call him) was a very good friend of mine and had been since we had met in Iraq a few years before when the American and British militaries decided to meet up for training. He was born in Afghanistan so it was good to have him on my team as both a translator and a medic. After he turned twenty he'd saved up enough money to move out of the Middle East and called England home instead where he got his major in medicine. It had been difficult to learn a new language on the side but now he was fluent in Dari, Arabic and English after living in London for over ten years. He was even married and had three children back home. He had quite a full and happy life so why he had decided to join the British SAS* was lost to me. He told me because it was his country that was under attack and he would always be attached to his birth place, even when he called England home. I couldn't fight with him about it so when he was told he was needed in Tembo Bara I was first to step up and offer him a position in our troop. And of course he accepted because he was sitting beside me at that very moment.

"Well it should be hurried," he said with that proper voice of his. I don't even think I've heard Mamun swear in all my life. He didn't even say 'damn it'. I looked back at him with a frown. "Michael looks like he might explode at any moment." I looked past him to see Newton trembling against the far wall, his gun held tightly in his hands.

Mike Newton, the lowest link in my team. Everyone was and still is confused as to what happened to him. When training to become a SEAL, Mike had been Superman. He was top of his class and everything but when he finally graduated and was put into a real mission he just froze up. He was like a fucking deer in the headlights. I couldn't count how many times I'd questioned the higher official's why he was still in my team. I think they were as confused as I was about his complete one-eighty. They'd tested him back in the States many times and he passed every one of them with flying colours. His only problem was fighting in a foreign country, which was pretty much ninety-nine percent of a SEALs career. Emmett had insisted we call him Dick until he finally proved himself but I, of course, had to put a stop to that. I didn't want to loose my position because one of my team members was being harassed like we were all back in grade school. A perfect example as to how childish Emmett was.

I merely rolled my eyes and looked back at the building, pulling out my NVGs* and ignoring the cowering Mike. "He's fine," I muttered. "It shouldn't be any longer."

"You said that half an hour ago," Jasper called as he continued his card game.

"Yeah well half an hour ago you wouldn't keep your yap shut," I answered.

There was finally silence on the rooftop, only the constant _flick, flick_ of Jasper and Emmett's card's was heard along with our quiet breathing. Suddenly there was a rumbling sound, kind of like an engine, that made us all freeze. I narrowed my eyes at the ally next to the building we were watching. Headlights lit the area as a jeep came rocketing out and down the main dirt road. "Get down!" I hissed and we all hit the deck as the jeep flew past our hide out. We waited for over two minutes as the sounds faded away into the distance and left us in silence again. I was the first to raise my head and look over the wall, noticing the tire tracks in the dirt but no other movement. "Pack up your shit," I muttered. "We're going in."

Throwing my small backpack over my shoulder, I moved into a crouch as the others gathered their things and crawled closer to create a circle. "Right," I muttered as they looked to me for the plan. "We're going in quiet. Might be a few men left behind on guard. Em, Jazz, take Moony with you and go around the back to scope it out. Newton, you're with me out front. Radio in when you get clearance."

They all nodded, their faces serious now, before getting up and heading for the stairs. Newton followed along after them leaving me to cover the rear. I already had my rifle ready and loaded so all I had to do was raise it and fire. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that. Jasper seemed to be in the front, scoping out the surrounding area before taking his team across the road to the building. A perfect example as to why he was my second in command. I overtook Newton and he stood close as we hid behind our hide out's stone walls. It gave me a clear picture of Jazz, Em, and Moony sneaking their way towards the back of our targeted building. In the pitch black of the night in this small village which was without street lights it was difficult for anyone to see anything. That's when night vision came in handy.

The three men disappeared from my view and I held my breath as the silence continued around us. I was always this uptight when it came to my teams lives. If they were at risk, I felt at risk.

Suddenly my radio crackled to life. I grabbed it off my belt and held it close to my ear, my eyes still roving the street. "Clear." Jasper's southern drawl came in.

"Roger," I murmured into the device before stuffing it back on my belt and moving forward, gun raised. I felt Newton follow after me as I jogged quickly across the road to press my back against the buildings wall. I could feel my heart thumping with adrenaline. It was like a high most of us got off on. Moving slowly towards the corner of our targeted building I saw a light coming from up ahead. Two voices made me even more hesitant as I slowed my pace, my gun still raised. I needed a surprise to catch them off guard. One wrong move and this whole situation could turn into a cluster fuck*. They're voices seemed carefree and unaware of our presence so I had to guess that their guns were lowered. I inched my way along until I was right beside the corner. If I moved anymore I'd be in the light and easily seen.

Taking a breath I stepped out, announcing my presence with my rifle trained on them. They responded instantly and went to grab their discarded weapons. "Ah!" I crowed and they stopped before giving in and raising their hands. Moony suddenly showed up behind them and I was glad he was there. I didn't speak a word of Arabic and he was fluent. I nodded and he began to explain what they were to do. They did what we asked without protest and handed over their weapons before getting on their knees with their hands on their heads.

It was depressing to see these young boys being pulled into the line of fire. You couldn't blame them for what they were doing. They thought they were doing something right and helping their country. They just didn't understand the damage that they were actually inflicting. It would never be these boys fault. They were just the followers that knew no better. Got caught up in the wrong crowd.

Moony told me their leader had gone off on the jeep convoy and was to return in a few hours to collect what was in the building. It was obvious he would not be coming back after hearing his hide out has been compromised but I did wonder what they had in the room. They're leader carried the key to the only door so that meant it had to be taken by force.

I tried kicking it in twice until the third attempt proved victorious and I was admitted inside. I still kept my gun raised, unable to know what lay inside until I could pull my flash light off of my belt. The place smelled like road kill so it was no wonder why it was used to house things rather than people. Flipping on my flashlight I looked around the small room to find it stacked full with weapons. Rifles, shotguns, grenades. This place was loaded. It was evident the room was void of human life but filled to the brink with machines.

"Bingo," Em muttered from the door, coming to join me inside while Jazz, Moony and Newton kept watch.

Moving the flashlight along the boxes of ammunition I noticed something I'd never seen before. "Em," I called as I stood over the curious looking objects. The goofy ass was also our resident ace on weapons so I knew he had to have some clue as to what these things were.

He came to my side and I nodded towards the box full of them. Hesitantly he reached in and picked up one of the objects to roll it around in his hands. It seemed to be a very out of date cell phone that was spray painted a bright blue. "Detonators," Emmett said as he continued to carefully look it over. "I can't tell if they're set to a bomb or not."

I sighed and shook my head before muttering my thanks and going into my pocket to pull out the high tech phone given to me. "I'm calling back to base," I told him. "We'll get them to pick up all this shit."

**x_x_x_x _x_x_x**

**Slang:**

SEALs – United States Navy SEALs (Sea, Air, Land Forces.)

BUD/S – (Basic Underwater Demolitions) Navy SEALs physical training designed to develop and test their stamina, leadership, and ability to work as a team. **Search** 'BUD/S training' on YouTube for a look into the life of a training Navy SEAL. It's brutal.

SAS – British (Special Air Service). Kind of like the US Navy SEALs.

NVGs – Night Vision Goggles

Cluster Fuck – Military term where nothing will go right

**Locations:**

**Tembo Bara** – Imaginary African country located in the original country of Eritrea (eastern tip of the African continent by Sudan, Ethiopia and the Red Sea). Basically Swahili for "elephant land." Eritrea is very small and is mostly populated by Muslims and Christians but in Tembo Bara the Muslims will outnumber the other religions for purposes to the story. The country was colonized by Italy in 1890 which is why I called one of the cities Port Italia (there is no such place in Eritrea). It is scrubland or desert with some grassland and grazing area's, which 80% of the population farm and herd on. Although some things may be similar between Tembo Bara and Eritrea nothing I write should be used against the real country. Tembo Bara and everything in it is MADE UP. I'm just using some geographical and cultural bits from Eritrea. NONE of the civil war in Tembo Bara happened in Eritrea.

**Pemoja** - The little village in this chapter. Means 'together' in Swahili.

**Author's Note:**

**1**. Just to clear this up, this story is not an attack against Muslims or Middle Easterners. I happen to know people from that religion or culture and they're amazingly kind. Stereotyping someone is wrong and I hope that this story does not offend anyone. If so I am terribly sorry and if it does offend you please private message me and tell me so and I'll take the story down.

**2**. I LOVE MAMUN! He is probley my favourite character that I've created. His name is Arabic origin and means 'trustworthy'. I thought it'd be cute to add him in.

**3**. Yes, I am allowing swearing in this story! Isn't it exciting?! Well I thought to myself that these are grown men in the middle of a dangerous conflict. Everything is not going to be all hunky dory and innocent now is it? This story is going to be a little more mature than my previous ones so if you don't like it, tough luck sugar! I'm growing up and taking in everything that comes with becoming an adult, the good and the bad. But sadly there will be no lemons. Haven't experienced it, won't write it yet. Sorry.

**4**. I know absolutely nothing about guns, weapons and military. I've never held a gun in my life and I don't plan to. I'm using the internet to look up stuff about this but if you reviewers know that I'm doing something wrong then let me know and give me your wisdom!

**_NOW PRESS THE REVIEW BUTTON DOWN THERE, PRONTO!_**


	2. Chapter 2

_**WARNING: The following story contains violence, coarse language and mature subjects. Readers discretion is advised.**_

**Disclaimer: **Roses are red, violets are blue. I don't own Twilight, so please don't sue!

**x_x_x_x _x_x_x**

Here I sat on this uncomfortable plastic chair in the middle of this sweltering hot office, my t-shirt sticking to my back and my hand rubbing my face again before dropping my sunglasses back on my nose. Being sweaty was something I hated but it came with the job especially when you were stationed in a country like this one where there were hardly any clouds let alone rain. Only the fan above my head and the open doors gave myself and the receptionist any relief from the heat of the morning sun.

I had to admit the woman sitting behind the desk was very pretty. But being in a country where most women covered their bodies and faces might be a reason why I was checking her out. She was slim with tanned skin and large brown eyes that shifted up to look at me a few times. She was of middle-eastern decent but instead of covering her face she only had a colourful scarf wrapped around her head, showing her small, pretty features. It was a damn shame she was wearing a suit jacket and pants. I could really go for a look at her long legs that she crossed under the table…

The honking of a horn made me wake out of my lust filled stupor and focus on the traffic outside the doors. I could see the gates that locked us inside the SEALs headquarters from where I sat. The building we used was once a radio/television station but it went out of business a few months ago so the building went up for sale. If you listened quietly you could hear the talking from upstairs. Our Intel centre was on the second floor of the two story building where the people with desk jobs went. They had God damn air-conditioning for 'the computers' but the first floor didn't. Commander John Highland's office was on this floor, behind the pretty receptionist, as well as a small clinic for those SEALs with minor wounds. Luckily I had yet to visit that office or the cities hospital.

Port Italia, the capital, wasn't a very busy city when you really thought about it. Hell, isn't wasn't any Chicago but it was the most populated place in Tembo Bara. Located right on the Red Sea it was an important port and the place where the wealthier of the population lived. Buildings up to fifteen stories held many cramped apartments and the skinny streets always had some kind of traffic with cars and bikes running into one another. The place literally didn't sleep and horns and shouting could be heard all night long. It was a huge difference from the little village my team had just left yesterday.

That reminded of the guys waiting outside by the Jeep we were given for transportation around the deserts. We'd treated the last mission as a victory when our back up arrived and collected the weapons we'd discovered. They'd been taken to safer place and put under constant guard. Maybe they'd discover what was up about those blue cell phones. But anyway, it was out of our hands now. It was time to move on to a new project.

Suddenly Emmett's jovial laughter rang out over the traffic outside and I immediately wanted to go out there to see what was so funny. But it seemed the bunt of their joke walked into the room, her dark hair flying everywhere and her glasses falling down her nose as she struggled to keep a hold of the folders and papers stacked in her arms. I got up to help her but she shook her head stubbornly and moved the stack to her hip, making it a little bit easier for her to hold. "You sure you don't want help?" I asked, holding out my hands to catch anything if it fell.

"I'm…fine, Masen," she puffed, sweating bullets as her hands continued to slip. "I got this…handled."

"I can see that," I chuckled. "But come on Angie. You don't ask anybody for help, do you?"

She shifted the bunch to her other hip. "What can I say?" she said. "I'm independent."

Independent was definitely a word to describe Angela Weber. I wouldn't say she was a feminist but she did love to get down and dirty just like the guys. She hated the desk job she was given by the Commander as Intelligence. Angie was someone who loved action and always wanted to be apart of it. It was a damn shame Highland didn't think the same thing about her. I was pretty sure he still saw her as an innocent little girl but she definitely wasn't. Well she was a woman and a very beautiful woman at that with long dark hair, navy blue eyes, tanned skin and an athletic build. She was one to make the men drool although she acted more like a guy than the prissy little princess they all painted her as in their minds. But me and the guys only saw her as a sister, plus she was engaged.

Ben Cheney was an airplane mechanic and spent most of his time in cold places like Alaska or Antarctica, repairing or flying cargo around. It was how Angela found her love of flying helicopters. She demanded he teach her and before long she became pretty fucking rad with a chopper. She'd talked to Commander Highland over and over again, asking for a job as chopper pilot but she always got turned down and driven back to her desk job. I felt bad for the girl. She obviously wanted some kind of adventure in her life but she hit a brick wall everytime she tried.

"So I heard you guys found a gold mine," she said, trying to fix her glasses while holding the papers.

I laughed and rubbed the back of my neck. "Yeah. I guess you could say that. Any luck with the Commander?"

She rolled her eyes and let out a depressed sigh. "Negative," she muttered. "I swear he's sexist! He probley thinks I should be at home with five fucking kids and a vacuum in my hand 24/7. And God forbid I even go near a chopper! The world will end!" She growled to herself for a moment. "Sometimes I just wanna -"

With that the office door opened and I immediately spun around, yanking off my sunglasses and shoving them in my pocket as Commander John Highland came out to meet with me. He was a tall man with large shoulders that could rival Emmett but an infectious smile with bright white teeth that were known to blind people. He flashed me that smile and I made sure to keep contact with his grey eyes rather than blind myself. "Lieutenant!" he cried. He extended his large tanned hand to me and I shook it with a smile of my own. You couldn't help but feel good around the man. "Good to see you."

"And the same to you, sir," I replied respectfully.

Angela quickly and quietly excused herself before running up the stairs to the second floor.

Letting go of my hand he motioned me into his office before following me inside and shutting the door after himself. I dropped into the chair across from his but he went to the open window where a small, electric fan whirred in the background. Tugging at his tie he sighed as he stared into the street. "Hot today, wouldn't you say Lieutenant?" he asked me although the motion he just did looked more nervous than a reaction to the weather. I was on edge and sat up straight, gripping the cushy chair I had dropped into, my senses heightening and trying to locate a threat.

"That it is, sir," I said, narrowing my eyes at his side profile as he avoided my gaze.

Clearing his throat and flattening his shirt he continued on. "Well, first I'd like to congratulate you and your team on your last mission." He paused, swallowing heavily so his Adam's apple bobbed. My grip on the leather of the chair increased. "Excellent job on finding those weapons. A great achievement."

"Thank you," I answered, still keeping my eyes on him.

He turned, meeting my eyes and looking away before going over to his own chair behind the oak desk. I swivelled in my chair to watch his every movement as he sat rigidly, folding his hands in front of him. There was a pause before he opened his mouth again. "I suppose you're wondering what your next mission is?" Highland asked, eyeing me.

"Yes, sir," I said. "That would be the plan."

He nodded before sitting back in his chair and rubbing his chin. "Yes, yes," he mumbled before looking up at me again. "Well I have your objective." I sat forward, on the edge of my seat as I clasped my hands in front of me. "There's been a few sightings of suspisious characters hanging around a local village. We believe they might be collecting followers and we need your team to just…patrol it. Try speaking with the people maybe, ask them if they've seen anything and report back tonight, 2100 hours* at the latest. I need your team here and rested for the presidents landing."

I nodded, understanding what he meant. Due to the backlash of the people, Tembo Bara's president decided to skip out to another country until it could be resolved. Only the higher officials knew where he was. All we knew was that he was coming back tomorrow and he needed protection. It was stupid and made me feel like a damn bodyguard rather than a SEAL. But this was an order that we had to follow. If it meant the end of this civil war then I'd do it.

"Yes, sir," I answered. "We'll get down there today and return this evening."

"Perfect," he said, reaching into a file drawer and pulling out a map. Laying it out on the desk he beckoned me forward and drew a route to the village for us to follow. He pointed out the places to steer clear of and looking at it's location it would mean at least an hours drive across a desert terrain. Jasper could be navigator like always. I could trust him. Emmett would tell me the wrong directions just to fuck with me. It was always a joke with him.

"I'll see you this evening, then, sir," I said before folding up the map and turning to go to the door.

"Ah Edward," he called me back and I looked back at him with confusion. He was all nervous again and I had no idea why. "Just…one more thing before you go." He motioned for me to sit and I hesitantly lowered into the chair again. "I have another member to add to your little – ah – troop." I frowned, wondering where he was going with this. I had enough men as it was.

"A new…member, sir?" I questioned, almost forgetting to add the 'sir' on to the end.

He took a breath and I swear he didn't let it out until he quickly finished the next few words. "Yes, she's from one of the news agencies back in the states."

"She?" I asked, picking up on it right away. A girl, on my team? That wouldn't work at all. Emmett wouldn't be able to work straight on anything. Knowing the media I bet she was a busty, blond like Rosalie and wouldn't he have a field-fucking-day with that little minx? I needed my men focused, not gallivanting off after some little reporter.

"Yes, she," he answered before lifting the small phone on his desk. Pressing one of the numbers he waited a moment before speaking. "Ah yes, Gianna." The pretty receptionist was most likely on the other line. "Could you send in Miss. Swan? Thank you."

It was only a few seconds after he put the phone back down that the door hesitantly opened with a soft tapping on the wood. "Miss. Swan!" he cried out, already on his feet and grinning that blinding smile. "A pleasure to see you again. Please, come in."

The door closed and the clicking of slow, careful heels was heard on the floor. I didn't look up from the map crushed in my fist but I could feel her stop to my right. Get ready for breasts and bleach blond hair, my mind warned me.

"Miss. Swan," the Commander said, waving his hand towards my slouched form. "This is Lieutenant Edward Masen. Edward, this is Miss. Isabella Swan."

I knew that was the point I had to be polite and at least welcome her nicely. Sighing inwardly I lifted my gaze and froze.

She was short and slim with a posture that screamed innocence even though her skirt and shirt said otherwise. Her skin was pale white and glowed in the small amount of light, almost like a halo. The chocolate hair fell in waves over her shoulders and around her heart shaped face, her cheeks a light shade of pink. With her full bottom lip between her teeth and her tiny hands picking at her nails she looked at me. I met her large, brown, doe eyes and I felt myself swallow heavily.

Shit. I am so fucked.

I looked away before I jumped up and attacked her right then and there. Rubbing my fingers together I could almost feel her soft skin. Not good, I thought staring up at the Commander's almost smug expression, or was I seeing things? He was planning to make me fail, wasn't he? He knew my weakness was brown eyed, brunettes!

"Isabella is here from the Seattle news paper," he went on with the smile still on his face. "So you two will be working together and with Edward's team. Miss. Swan will be documenting the lives of those in a war zone and you'll be looking after her."

What could I say to that? It was an order and I can't go back on it. I eyed Isabella again but she was looking out the window, her lip still between her teeth. God damn it! Didn't she understand what that did to me? Shifting uncomfortably I faced the Commander again and saw him staring at me, all serious now. I sighed before nodding. "Yes, sir," I mumbled, getting to my feet to see how much shorter she truly was than me. The top of her head just came to the bottom of my chin and I flexed my hand, trying not to reach over and touch her.

Commander Highland grinned and let out a breath of relief. "That's great!" he announced, standing and holding out his hand to me. "I was a bit worried you'd put up more of a fight." Ah, so that's why he was nervous. He shook my hand. "Good luck, Lieutenant." Turning to Isabella her shook her small hand as well and smiled what I supposed was to be a charming look. "Not to worry, Miss. Swan. You're in good hands." I inwardly groaned at the double sense in those words before turning and passing by her for the door. She stepped back but I could still feel the heat of her body when her shoulder brushed my arm. I needed to get out of there. Now.

I made a bee line for the doors that led out into fresh air, fumbling to put on my sunglasses and ignoring the flirtatious looks Gianna was giving me from behind her desk. I was almost there, just a few more steps and I'd walk out into the sunlight…!

"Lieutenant!" a soft voice called from behind me and I froze, the shivers running up at down my spine. I knew who it was even before I turned around to face Isabella. She was wobbling in her heels and I fought the urge to run over like a fucking puppy dog and help her stay balanced. My fingernails were going to be imbedded into my palms by the time this was all over.

"Yes, Miss. Swan?" I asked her through gritted teeth.

She flinched and stopped a foot from where I stood before looking at me nervously. "I was…" she trailed off, staring at me and falling silent. I waited a moment before raising my eyebrows and rolling my wrist to get her talking again. She seemed to snap out of it and turned red in the face. "I'm sorry but I just…might I be able to change before we leave?"

I made the mistake of looking her up and down. I meant to look at the pencil skirt and blouse she was wearing but my eyes lingered on her legs and the small amount of cleavage she had showing. Clearing my throat I tried to stop my blood flow from heading south. This was not the time to fucking get turned on.

I waved her away, unable to use my voice and watched as she stumbled off to change. Shaking my head repeatedly I turned and strode out the door and into the African heat. I desperately needed to clear my head before meeting up with guys. No doubt that I would never hear the end of this if I stalked over to them with my pants tighter than they should be. God, and I was worried Emmett would the one who got distracted. I had to learn to control myself around Miss. Swan because having a distracted Commanding Officer meant everyone was fucked. I couldn't let my team down.

After a few deep breaths a stepped out of the shadows I was standing in and walked briskly over the guys. The Jeep doors were all open with Moony and Newton sitting inside and Em and Jazz leaning against the hood. They looked up as soon as I came into sight and Jasper frowned. Jazz knew me too well and could read my emotions like an open book.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," I said quickly as I came to stop in front of the group. "I need you guys to know we have a new member. She's a reporter back in the States."

They all looked at one another with unreadable expressions, all except for Emmett who was grinning widely. "A girl?" he laughed. "It's my lucky day!"

I grinded my teeth together and glared at him. I knew it was a joke but my ugly side suddenly reared it's head. "Back off, Em," I growled.

They all looked surprised before Emmett held up his hands. "All right, all right," he said. "You got dibs." I snorted in disgust before crossing my arms over my chest. "Geez, Ed. What's up your ass?"

I brought my hands up to my face and sighed while rubbing my temples. "I'm fine," I said after a long breath. Opening my eyes I stared each of them, trying to get them to trust me.

But Emmett was looking over my shoulder with interest. "Is that her?" he asked.

Everyone looked and I turned slowly to see Isabella jogging towards us. Her outfit had most definately changed, from one Alice would have approved to one she would be disgusted of. The teasing outfit was no more and instead she had cargo shorts and a white t-shirt with ratty running shoes and a baseball hat that held the Seattle Mariners* logo. Her brown hair was tied back into a ponytail and a pair of sunglasses covered her eyes. She looked more comfortable than she was in her skirt and blouse and she wasn't stumbling which was a relief but if she did it again I wouldn't be able to stop myself from acting like Prince Charming.

She stopped beside me and smiled shyly. "Sorry," I muttered.

Before I got too carried away with my thoughts I cleared my throat and turned to the boys. "Guys," I started, waving toward her. "This is Isabella -"

"Bella," she corrected me before she ducked her head and played with the strap of her duffle bag.

"Bella," I said before continuing. "She's going to be with us for a few days."

They all smiled at her and I noticed Moony had hopped out of the Jeep to grin kindly at her and give me a knowing look. I grimaced back at him before motioning to Emmett. "This is Petty Office Emmett McCarty, our weapons specialist." He grinned at her and she smiled back timidly. I moved on to Jazz. "This is our XO and navigator Lieutenant Junior Jasper Whitlock."

She looked up at me, confused. "XO?" she asked.

"Executive Officer," Jazz informed her while shaking her hand.

"He's basically my second in command," I finished before moving on. "This is our Chief Medical Office Mamun Iman." Moony smiled warmly at her again and shook her hand gently.

"Nice to meet you," she murmured as he released her and stepped back.

"And this," I sighed as Newton jumped out of the Jeep. "Is Ensign* Michael Newton." I wanted to add that he was the lowest in my team and he was useless but I kept my mouth shut as he shook her hand and held it for a little too long. Would I lose my job if I smashed his head with the Jeep's door?

She smiled shortly at him before taking her hand away and covertly rubbing her palm against her shorts. I couldn't help but smirk.

"So CO, what's the POD?" Emmett asked while he rubbed his hands together.

Bella looked at me for an explanation again. "CO means Commanding Office, that's me," I said. "POD means 'plan of the day'."

She let out a small 'oh' before turning away again. I pulled out the map and motioned for Jazz to follow me. Spreading the folded map on to the hood of the Jeep I pointed out everything the Commander had showed me, explaining it to him in detail. He nodded a few times before taking it from me and heading around to the passenger side. Jasper was practically always shotgun.

Mamun tossed me one of the bullet-proof vests and I strapped it on over my chest. It was uncomfortable but could ultimately save your life. I decided to leave the desert camouflage jacket off since it was hot as Hell and just have my vest for all to see. I watched as Moony showed Bella how to put on her own vest, which was bright blue and said 'MEDIA' in big block letters. She looked so innocent and confused as he chuckled and spun her around to strap the thing in place. I couldn't be angry with Mamun. He was acting more fatherly towards her than anything else. Why I should care about that was confusing me.

After suiting up, I went around to the driver's side watching as Emmett jumped into the very back seat. He liked it back there since he said it was bumpy like 'the last car of a rollar coaster or the back of the school bus'. Mamun, being the English gentleman he was, helped Bella into the Jeep and waited until she was sitting before crawling into the back with Emmett. I was a little pissed off when Newton sat his ass down beside Bella, sitting a little too close to her for my liking. I'd have to kick his ass if he got any closer. Jesus. I was acting like she was my fucking territory or some bull shit like that. I growled to myself before sliding into the driver's seat and starting the engine.

"We can go out the same roads we came in on, but go north instead of south," Jazz informed me while staring at the map. GPS was crap when it came to Jasper. The guy could track anything but I guess that's what growing up on a ranch and chasing after horse's does to you.

I nodded and put the Jeep in gear before pulling out of the parking space with Emmett "wah hooing" in the background and my eyes constantly going to the rear view mirror to watch Bella rummage through her bag.

Man, this was going to be one long day.

**x_x_x_x _x_x_x**

**Slang:**

2100 hours – 9:00 pm

Seattle Mariners – Seattle baseball team. Don't ask me if I'm a fan because I know absolutely nothing about sports. Except soccer, cause it's awesome. The only baseball game I've been to was when I was about ten and that was for the Toronto Blue Jays (they lost that game by the way).

Ensign – junior officer

**Locations:**

**Port Italia – **Capital of Tembo Bara. On the Red Sea. Busiest city in the country and very crowded. Ever seen a major Indian city? That's kind of how I picture it.

**Author's Note:**

**1.** Actually my old Travel and Tourism teacher (yes I took a class called that), her husband is an airplane mechanic and we heard plenty of his stories of Alaska and Antarctica. She told us one time in an Alaskan town everyone had to stay inside because a polar bear had found it's way into the streets. Whoa. And Angela's hobby will come in handy later on.

**2.** I actually got the idea for the radio/television station for a SEAL base from a movie. Behind Enemy Lines (2009) was completely cheesy and predictable beyond belief but it gave me some SEAL information so thank you. Lmao. I get most of my SEALs info from the internet and books in case you're interested.

**3.** I forgot to dedicate this story to my Mom! Since she loves Navy SEALs, I had to do a story about our Cullen boys in the military. So this ones for you Mom! And my first novel…whenever that comes out.

**4.** The music for this story is going to be listed on my profile and pretty much it will only be classic rock since it's awesome. Fuck rap. It's crap. But one song I'd recommend right now is Black Strobe - I'm a Man. Awesome song.

_**NOW PRESS THE REVIEW BUTTON DOWN THERE, PRONTO!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**WARNING: The following story contains violence, coarse language and mature subjects. Readers discretion is advised.**_

**Disclaimer: **Roses are red, violets are blue. I don't own Twilight, so please don't sue!

**x_x_x_x _x_x_x**

Christ it was hot. I reached up with one hand still on the wheel to wipe the sweat dripping down my forehead. We had the Jeep's windows opened fully but even the wind was hot. It blew against my face like steam and my eyes burned even with my sunglasses on. Was it the weather or lack of sleep that made me feel this way? I blinked repeatedly and kept my eyes on the barely there two laned road.

It was practically deserted on the Ungana* highway, which led north. Only a few 4X4's zoomed past us, giving me a relief with a burst of cooler air. But as soon as they passed it was back to steam. The northern part of Tembo Bara held a small portion of the Sahara Desert which was where the little village of Tenga* was located. How the people lived with this suffocating heat was amazing. But I supposed they had got used to it after a while, kind of like Jasper who looked quite comfortable with the map on his lap and his arm hanging out the window. Bastard grew up in Texas so it figures he'd feel right at home with this weather.

Surrounding the Ungana highway was orange sand dunes, bald shrubs, dead grasses, odd shaped trees and rocky grounds. It was a sight to behold, even when you passed randomly placed signs that warned you to keep to the speed limit. Like there were any cops hiding out here in the dunes. Animals were hard to spot out here since most lived in southern Tembo Bara, including the famous elephant herds. But I did see a few vultures flying over head in those ominous circles. A bad omen?

"Ugh!" Emmett's loud groan came from the back seat. "It's so fucking hot!"

"No shit," I laughed, looking into the rear-view mirror. My eyes rested on Bella who was leaning against her door and staring out into the desert. She'd taken her sunglasses and baseball hat off after a few minutes on the road, keeping them in her lap instead. I watched closely as the wind played with the wisps of hair that fell into her face before she tucked them behind her ear again. My fingers clenched on the wheel as I turned back to the road. Focus, Edward.

I heard Emmett's groaning again and the sound of Mamun slapping him on the back. "Hold in there, big guy," Moony chuckled and Em just grunted in response. I grinned, my eyes going back to the rear-view mirror to see Emmett's face but instead I caught something else that made the grin fade from my face.

Bella shifted uncomfortably and crossed her legs while clearing her throat. She was embarrassed because of the asshole sitting next to her. Newton was openly staring at her, his eyes no where near her face. I gritted my teeth and sucked in a quick breath. I wanted to pull this damn Jeep over, get out and kick his ass but I stayed calm and breathed before looking back at the road.

"You know, Newton," I began calmly. "You might become better at your job if you actually kept watch outside the car rather than staring at Miss. Swan's legs."

There was a silence in the Jeep before Emmett went into hysterics, even Jasper was chuckling lightly, and I couldn't help but check the mirror again. Newton's face was beat red and he had moved as far away from Bella as he could with his nose sticking out the window. Bella had brought her hands up to cover her pink face before she put on her sunglasses and hat again to hide. Smirking I looked back at the road, feeling good about myself even though I knew I was acting childishly like Emmett.

"Burn!" Em laughed, dragging the word out for a while before his booming laughter slowly got quieter. He sighed and we were silent again.

It was only a few minutes longer until Em spoke again. "I'm bored as shit," he said.

"That doesn't make any sense, Emmett," Mamun contradicted.

"What doesn't make sense?" he asked, actually confused. I rolled my eyes before focusing on the road again.

"How can…well…" Shit, Mamun. Just say the word. "_That_. How can _that_ be bored?" Ooo, so close to an actual swear. We'd break him one day.

There was a pause. "Fuck! I dunno! It was a figure of speech!" Em cried.

"Exactly," Moony said.

There was silence in the Jeep as Emmett thought it over for a minute. He sighed finally, announcing he'd given up without saying anything. We all knew what it meant. "But really guys. I am so fucking bored!" he moaned. We didn't answer him and it took a minute before he spoke again. "What about a game?"

Jasper and I groaned. "Not 'Who Would You Rather' again," Jazz said. "The last time we played we found out something I never wanted to know about you Em."

I agreed by nodding and shuddering at the memory. It was something I never wanted to explain or think about again. The mental picture Emmett gave us all was something that made me almost lose my lunch. It had to do with sex, a much older woman and Emmett. I wouldn't recommend looking into it.

"Not that game!" Em said. "I'm talking about 'Name That Singer'. That way Bella can play too."

I flinched at her name and my eyes went automatically to the mirror to see her look up in surprise. "Me?" she asked in that soft voice of hers.

Emmett sat forward in his seat, folding his large arms on the back of her chair and nodded as I turned back to watch the road. "Sure," he said. "Unless you don't want to play…?"

"No," she answered. "But…what's the game about?"

"It's basically naming the singer or band of a song," he said. "One person names a song and someone else guesses who made it."

"Oh," she breathed. "Okay. Sure."

I heard the clap of Emmett's hands as he rubbed them together. "Great! I'll go first," he announced. He thought for a moment before I heard him laugh. "All right. My song is 'Can't Get You Out of My Head'."

"Kylie Minogue," Jazz and I said at the same time.

"Yup," Em chuckled. "And damn that girl is fine!"

"Have you ever seen the video for that song, Em?" Jasper asked, turning in his seat to see the back.

"No…" he answered slowly. "Why?"

Jasper just smirked and turned back around to look at the map again. "No reason," he muttered.

"What?" Emmett prodded. " What?! Is she naked?!" Jazz and I shared a knowing look before we went back to our respective tasks. It gave Emmett an answer. "Jesus! So that's why Rose never showed me the music video…"

"Moving on!" Mamun called loudly and peeking into the rear-view mirror and I noticed his hands over his ears. Poor Moony. Too damn proper to listen to anything he saw as rude.

"Right, Jazz. You're turn," I said, taking charge of the game. Another car passed giving me a blast of cooler air. It felt good against my sweaty skin and I revelled in it while Jasper thought up a song.

"Okay," he said, folding up the map and tossing it on to the dashboard before turning in his seat. "'Wanted Dead or Alive."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Bon Jovi. Are you serious?" I asked as I grinned at him. It was just like him to choose a song that had 'I'm a cowboy' in the lyrics.

"Hey!" he said with a fake look of hurt. "That song is awesome. Don't diss Jon Bon Jovi, man. That was the first song I learned to play on my guitar."

"All right, all right," Emmett called from the back. "Moving on. Damn Ed, you're pro at this game."

I shrugged. "Music is a passion," I answered shortly.

"Right, it's your turn," Jazz said.

"Naw," I said and when they started to protest I talked over them. "Go to Moony first then come back to me."

"Fine," Emmett said after a sigh. "All right, English. Lay it on us."

There was another pause. "'Devil Woman,'" he said cheerfully after a moment.

"Oh!" I cried, tapping the wheel with fingers as I remembered the song's tune. "I know this one!" I hummed it to myself as the singer's face came into my mind. "Damn. I can see him!" Everyone else seemed clueless and Mamun looked like he was proud for stumping everyone. Finally it came to me. "Cliff Richards!"

"Richards?" Emmett laughed. "Wasn't he the sixties?"

"1976," Moony said defensively. "And there's nothing wrong with Cliff. That was a good song."

"Right, right," Em laughed again. "Eddie bo beddie, it's your turn."

I rolled my eyes and sighed loudly before thinking of a song. I remembered back to my old childhood bedroom where I kept a wall full of CDs and records. I could almost picture my finger skimming along the sides searching for a name. And then it came to me and I knew I would stump them.

"Okay," I said. "Made in the eighties and it's a Canadian band. The song is 'Innocence.'"

I'd done it. They all looked deep in thought but completely clueless, other than Newton who still had his nose out the window and Bella who was staring at her lap. Maybe there had been another reason why I chose the song, I thought while staring at her.

"Damn," Em muttered. "I have no fucking idea."

"Jazz? Moony?" I asked. There was no answer and I chuckled, victorious.

"Harlequin," came a small voice.

I was so surprised I swerved the Jeep a little. It was Bella who had answered. And she was right. I looked in the rear-view mirror for the hundredth time to see the blush on her cheeks. "What?" Em asked, sitting further forward.

"The band," she muttered. "Its called Harlequin."

We were silent for a while. Until I could feel all their eyes on me. "Well?" Emmett prodded.

I swallowed and rubbed the sweat from the back of my neck before answering. "She's right."

"All right, Bella!" he laughed loudly. "Looks like we got two little music experts."

I cleared my throat and squeezed the steering wheel again, trying to forget about what he just said. "Jazz, is this the turn off?" I asked instead and he fumbled with the map before nodding. Without saying anything I turned the Jeep to the right and on to a dirt road that held a sign declaring it was the way to Tenga. The rest of the ride was in silence and I didn't look into the mirror again. I knew that if I did, I wouldn't be able to look away.

The dirt road we turned on to was much bumpier so none of us were able to talk for a while. The Jeep bounced up and down and from side to side making steering a little more difficult than before (thank God for four-wheel drive) but I kept a steady grip on the wheel with a large smile on my face. It was every little boy's dream, to drive a big car through a bumpy terrain and bounce up and down in your seats while the engine roared in protest. It was what I had day dreamed when I was young and my mother took me and Alice to the park. I'd sit in the sandbox with my many toy cars and trucks and pretend I was driving through the deserts, then I move on to the grass and dream of jungles with exotic birds and animals, just like that G.I. Joe did. Maybe that was another reason why I joined the Navy.

Tenga suddenly turned up when we bounced over the last sand dune and started in on flatter ground. The little concrete buildings made up a small town but it was in the middle of no where. The barren landscape went on for miles so the only way these people could travel was by car or maybe mule or horse, although it would take a while. They really were isolated but for a village it was quite large with two story buildings surrounding the main (and only) road through the town. There were a few animals hanging around like dogs, mules and a few scattered chickens in a coop.

I drove right up to the end building and parked the car before turning off the engine. We all rolled up the windows before getting out the Jeep. As soon as my boots hit the sand I was on guard. My eyes searched the area around the Jeep but all I could see was some curious eyes of a little girl from a window on the second story of the building we parked next to and those few animals hanging around. But in my mind there was always danger. Was there anyone who was a danger to us in that second story window? Was there people waiting for us, ready to do us harm? You just never knew.

Slamming my door shut I walked around the front to meet the rest of the team including Bella who looked a little out of place with her vest and camera hanging around her neck. I looked away from her, focusing my mind as I looked at the guys who waited for their orders. "All right," I said. "Em and Newton are staying here to watch the Jeep." Emmett's grin faded and he swore under his breath. I knew he hated when he was on guard duty. He liked to be out in the action but I needed him to keep an eye on the car. You didn't know how sneaky these people could be. They could attach a bomb to the undercarriage in less than a minute and when you turned on that Jeep, BOOM! Plus we had weapons inside. Newton was guard duty because I didn't want him messing up anything else and Em would keep him in line. He was scared shitless of the guy. "Jazz and Moony, I want you two to start on the left side of the street and ask people if they've seen anything or know anything that can help us. Take note of everything just in case." They both nodded. "And I'll take Miss. Swan up the right side of the street." I wasn't letting her out of my sight. Who knew what kind of trouble she could get into.

"You got it CO," Emmett said with a mock salute before everyone went to the Jeep's trunk to get their weapons. I followed after them, with Bella on my heels, her face curious but hesitant at the same time. I grinned at her as we reached the back to see the guys loading up the rifles and checking that they were all in good condition. Bella's eyes were wide and her face was sort of pale as if she were in shock. "Never seen a gun before?" I asked her as Jazz tossed me a rifle.

She flinched as I caught it, as if it was going to go off or something. Then she got defensive. "Of course I've seen a gun before," she said.

I chuckled. "Television and pictures doesn't count," I told her before taking a handgun from Emmett and bending to strap it against my thigh. I even had a knife inside my boot. After checking and securing all these weapons I reached into the backseat and pulled out my belt that held a lot of things including a walkie-talkie, flashlight, NVGs and binoculars. You could never be too prepared.

Fixing my sunglasses I dismissed Jazz and Moony, watching them walk towards a small stall where an old woman was sewing fabrics together. Em and Newton went to their posts against two corners of the Jeep leaving Bella and I alone. "Right," I muttered, wiping my forehead of sweat. "Let's go." She nodded and together we started down the right side of the street, my rifle held tightly in my hands and my eyes shooting back at forth.

This street was occupied mostly by shops that sold clothing and food like meats and sparse vegetables. There was people walking around the streets watching us openly as Bella and I walked by. I guess we looked kind of odd especially when I had a gun in my hands and she was busy snapping pictures on her fancy camera. Although the people stayed away from us there were a few stray dogs that seemed interested in us until we passed another meat shop or I gently kicked my foot in their direction. It was easier to keep eye contact with people under my sunglasses since they didn't exactly know I was looking in their direction unless I turned my head. When I did they would look away and go back to work. All the stores were open with just a tarp of colourful fabric giving them some kind of shade. The butchers were the worst smelling since that meat was sitting in the sun all day with insects and even dogs sniffing around it. Not so appetizing to me.

At the end of the street we were approaching there were a few kids running around in the sand beside a large brick wall. It wasn't until we got closer that I realized they were playing a soccer game with four large rocks used at the goal posts. Their ball was dirty and nearly deflated but they kicked it with all their might, yelling to each other in their native tongue as they quickly passed it back and forth. On the sidelines there were two little girls with scarfs around their heads and a smaller boy who looked depressed. I wondered if he wasn't allowed to play.

Bella immediately made a beeline for the children watching the game, crouching and waving to get their attention before snapping pictures. I followed her quickly; my eyes scanning around their little makeshift soccer field, searching for some kind of threat. But all seemed at peace so I watched Bella making funny faces and trying to get them to smile. The girls giggled, playing nervously with the scarf's covering their mouths as they stared at the camera with curious black eyes. The boy looked a little more interested, sitting up so you could see his bony little legs and his dirty face.

There was a shout and my head shot around just to see the soccer ball come rolling towards me and hit my foot. The boys that were running to get it stopped immediately and hesitated when they saw whom they had hit. Their eyes were large, some of the boy's black hair falling into their faces. I looked down at the ball that sat at my feet and hesitated.

"Come on!" Bella cried in exasperation. "At least kick the ball back to them, for God's sake. Can't you do that?" She had a patronizing tone in her voice and I gritted my teeth in annoyance. Looks like little miss shy was actually quite outspoken when she wanted to be. Little did she know that I grew up playing soccer, joining teams and clubs since I'd been young. I wouldn't call myself a pro but I knew a few tricks.

When I was sure Bella was watching I put my boot on top of the ball and let it slide backwards, flipping the ball upwards so I could bounce it off my knee. It worked perfectly since I'd been perfecting that trick since I was ten and I was able to hit it off both knee's before lightly kicking the ball back into the play. The boys took the ball, shouting something that sounded like a thank you before going back to their game.

When I turned to grin triumphantly at Bella she looked a little shocked. But she quickly composed herself and turned away from me in a huff before going back to snapping pictures of the little group off to the side. I chuckled lightly before watching the soccer game again. Even though my eyes were on the soccer ball, my second senses were watching what was around us. Any danger and I was sure to pick up on it. It's what I'd been trained to do.

There was an uproar of cheers as one of the boys kicked the ball past the goalie who dived into the sand to try and catch it, ending up empty handed. I couldn't help but grin as they high fived each other like any kid I've known did back home did. "Goal," I muttered to myself.

"Go-lah?"

Surprised I looked down to see a one of the boys who was defence on the other team looking up at me with confusion in his dark eyes. I didn't understand what he was trying to say and I shook my head in confusion. He pointed towards the opposing teams net where everyone was still celebrating before saying that word again. "Go-lah?" he asked.

Then I finally understood. "Goal," I corrected him and he grinned, his front two teeth missing.

"Go-lah!" he said louder. Well it was as good as it was going to get, I decided before nodding. His black eyes lit up and his smile grew before he took off to the group of boys. He was shouting to them before he got their attention and then he spoke rapidly. I heard the word 'go-lah' in there a few times and he was pointing towards the net. Suddenly they all picked up on it and a cheer of "go-lah, go-lah" went around.

Well would you look at that? I taught a kid some English. It was sad to see how clever some of these kids were, that they could just pick up a word right then and there. I was sure that these kids would love to go to school when I used to hate it. You never know how much you love something until you lose it.

Bella looked surprised too but I just motioned for her to get up. Her surprise turned to annoyance and she took her sweet time before getting up, dusting off her knees and waving goodbye to the children she was taking pictures of. We left the soccer game; the cheer's of "go-lah" still going on as we walked back down the street. She didn't speak to me and I could tell that it annoyed her that I proved her wrong and made her look like a fool. I could see the blush of embarrassment on her face as she looked away, her frown deep and her brows furrowed over her sunglasses. I could just picture how icy her gaze would be right now. Damn proud woman.

I could see Jazz and Moony talking with the owner of a butcher's shop, Mamun in a deep conversation where both he and the civilian were using awkward hand motions. We passed them and Jazz nodded to me before going to back to watching Moony's back. Good ole' Jasper. I could always trust him.

I was still walking towards the Jeep when I stopped. I felt alone for a moment before I turned around to find Bella crouched and taking pictures of a toddler who had wandered over to her. She was easily a few feet from where I was now standing which meant she had stopped and let me wander on. Damn it! Didn't she know how dangerous this place could be? Did she have no reason to live?

Growling obscenities under my breath I stomped back over to her. She didn't notice me until I'd grabbed her forearm and tugged her upwards. She stumbled in surprise before righting herself and glaring down at my grip on her wrist. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she snarled, trying in vain to yank her arm away.

I gripped her wrist harder and pulled her closer so she could see how angry I was. She squeaked in surprise at how close our faces were. "Do you want to stay alive?" I asked her through my teeth.

She tried to pry my fingers off her arm but my grip was steady and her little fingers couldn't do anything to make me let go. I was angry and I wanted her to know it. What if she died on my watch? Didn't she know the guilt that would consume me for the rest of my life? "Stop manhandling me!" she cried. "I demand some respect!"

I barked out a laugh without humour. "Respect?" I asked her. "You want respect?"

"Yes, I do!" she shouted back at me.

"Fine!" I said, letting go of her arm and bending down quickly. In no time and strain for me I had her up and over my shoulder. She gasped in surprise and before she realized what was happening I was walking down the street towards the Jeep. There was a moment of silence before she started beating her fists on my back and kicking her legs. "Let me go!" she yelled. "Lieutenant! I _will _report you to your superiors if you do not let me down and apologize this _instant_!"

I chuckled. "You go ahead and do that, princess."

She growled in response and continued to kick and hit my back, which wasn't really making any progress for her escape. In fact, it felt quite nice. Well actually everything felt quite nice. When I'd picked her up I accidentally let her shorts ride up so that my hand was now resting on the back of her thigh. It was warm and soft and it brought very X rated thoughts to my mind including my lips and her legs. I had to fight to make my hand stay innocently where it was and not creep up her leg. And then there was the fact that her vest was pressed up against my back and I cursed it for being there. If she didn't have it I'd probley be able to feel her breasts. I knew she wasn't busty but she wasn't flat either. Forgive me for the Goldie Locks quote, but she was just right.

I was both relieved and depressed when we reached the Jeep to find Emmett picking at his nails and humming to himself. He looked up when we came around the corner, looking confused before a huge grin came on to his face. He laughed loudly and Bella snarled, pounding on my back some more. "Well, well, Eddie," he chuckled, coming over to us as I stopped by the Jeep. "What you got there?"

"A respected woman," I said with a grin as she smacked me on the back again.

Laughing Emmett unlocked one of the doors and went back to his post before I turned and opened the back door the Jeep. Bella was in a large rant about how much trouble my whole team would be in for treating her this way but I just ignored her and tossed her into the back seat. She huffed when she hit the seats but quickly found herself and crawled up to attack me. But she wasn't quick enough. I had closed the door and was leaning against it as she tried the handle repeatedly with no luck. She wouldn't be able to unlock any of the other doors so it was obvious she was stuck inside. She realized that and started shouting at me through the closed window, banging on the part where my back was leaning. It was all going to deaf ears as I waited for Jazz and Moony to return. After a few moments she gave up with a muted scream and it was silent again.

I felt very triumphant as Jasper and Mamun came around the corner, looking very glad about something. "What's the report?" I asked when they reached the Jeep.

"A few of the people have given up some information," Moony said cheerfully. "They say that there is a certain symbol the collectors use. They've drawn out it out for me." He showed me a piece of paper with a drawing of an X with an eye in the middle. "They're too proud not to show it on their vehicles. I think we have a very big lead now."

I took the paper, staring at it for a moment before stuffing it into my pocket. "Great job guys," I congratulated them. "I'm supposing they had to be paid off though?" They both nodded. Well it wasn't like we didn't expect it. The people needed the money and their lives were on the line if the terrorists found out they were giving up their secrets. They deserved the money for bravery. "You did well."

They both grinned but Moony's smile faded when he looked behind me. "Why is Miss. Swan so angry looking?"

Everyone looked, including myself, to see Bella sitting in her seat with her arms crossed, her seat belt on and glaring at her lap. Geez, I really must have pissed her off. Maybe the whole respect joke wasn't such a good idea, although I could never deny that I did enjoy our 'walk'. "She's fine," I muttered, turning back to the guys. "Just something I said that set her off. Some sleep and a shower will change her mood." Particularly if that shower and that bed has myself in it as well. No more dirty thoughts! "We should head back. We got another hours drive ahead of us."

They all nodded before going to put our weapons away in the trunk. I did the same and we all took our usual spots in the Jeep while Emmett rolled underneath to double check for any odd objects that may be bombs. When he gave the all clear we were packed up and driving down the same dirt road, back to the Ungana highway.

It was surprising but we had spent a good few hours in Tenga. Time just seemed to fly by when were walking around the village, especially with Bella beside me. I glanced up in the rear-view mirror to see her glaring out the window. I guessed I wasn't going to be forgiven any time soon. At least Newton still knew his place.

For the next hour's drive Emmett started another game that both Bella and I opted out of. I was too lost in my thoughts and worries that she wouldn't forgive me. I was even more worried about that than I was about her tattling on me to the Commander. What the hell was wrong with me? For years my job was my number one priority and just suddenly it changes? I didn't feel comfortable with that. I didn't like change like this. I needed to push away those thoughts and focus on the tasks at hand. She was just fucking woman after all.

So by the time we had entered Port Italia's crowded city streets at 1900 hours* the guys had been through over fifty different songs in Em's game. "All right," he said. "Last one. 'Animals'."

"Nickelback," Jazz answered in a bored voice. It had got old after half an hour and twenty-five songs. We all seemed to thank God when I pulled into the SEALs base.

The sun was setting slowly to the west leaving the eastern part the city under a velvet sky with streaks of gold from the glowing orb that was disappearing. The boiling heat we had suffered from before was fading but it was still hot even at night, the sand bellow our feet radiating the warmth the sun's rays had dropped on it. As soon as I had parked the Jeep, Bella was unbuckling her belt, throwing her vest off and charging towards the SEALs office. She did all of this was a determined, angry looking expression on her face. Whoops.

They all looked at me, oblivious to the reason why she acting that way, other than Emmett of course. I sighed before shaking my head and turning off the Jeep. "I'll handle this," I said, pulling my vest over my head and handing it to Jasper. They all changed to looks of doubt. Swearing under my breath and wondering how I had got myself into this position, I jumped out the Jeep and jogged towards the open doors of the office.

The whole second floor was probley still at work but Gianna the receptionist was just locking away the files in her desk when I entered. She was probley going home and she looked happy but when she spotted me she giggled. I grinned uneasily before squeezing past her desk and down the hall to the Commanders office. I began to believe that maybe Bella hadn't gone to his office, but as I got closer I could see her sitting in one of the chairs. Damn.

Deciding to be as polite as I could be I knocked on the door before entering. "Lieutenant!" Highland laughed, waving me in. "Come in! Have a seat."

I did so on the chair beside a very straight-backed Bella. She wasn't looking at me so it didn't look too good. "I hear from Isabella that your mission went smoothly," the Commander went on to say, leaning back in his seat, at ease unlike myself.

"Yes, sir," I said with a nod before digging in my pocket and pulling out the drawing Mamun had given me. "One of my men was able to get a civilian to draw the terrorists symbol. They say that it is used frequently."

He reached forward and took the paper from me, staring at the symbol from different ways. "Very interesting, Lieutenant," he muttered. "A fine find." He smiled to himself before putting the paper on the desk and folding his hands on top of it to look at us. "So, Miss. Swan," he said, turning to the attention to her. "You never told me how your day was. These boys treating you well?"

I held my breath while I waited for her answer. It was surprising enough to learn that she didn't tell him right away but I knew she was just bursting at the seams to rant on about me. She wanted to him to know what a bastard, ass hole, douche bag, anti feminist, rude dick I was. She wanted him to fire me right away and maybe even send me to a camp to learn more about respecting women. She wanted an apology where I would grovel on the ground and kiss her feet while every Navy SEAL laughed at how stupid I looked on my knees begging for forgiveness from a journalist. She wanted me to tattoo "Does Not Respect Women" on my forehead and laugh as I went around trying to ask ladies out before being turned down by every one of them. She wanted me to burn in a pit of Hell fire for the rest of…

"It was fine, Commander," she said sweetly.

Jesus Christ! What did she just say? My head whipped in her direction to see her calm and collected. She hadn't tattled. She hadn't said a peep or was this just a set up? Maybe she told him before I got here. Maybe he already knew and this was the start of my punishment by making me think I'd got away with it while I was just digging a hole for myself.

"That's great, Isabella," he said cheerfully and really truthfully. "Because if you didn't get along I couldn't send you to a different team. Remember we talked about that?" He laughed to himself and she chuckled half heartedly with him.

So that's why she hadn't sold me out. If she said anything bad about us she would get a one way ticket back to Washington losing this big story. This must really mean something to her. Wow. A very dedicated woman. Maybe I was wrong not to respect her.

"Well now that you've finished this, I can tell where you'll be staying for the night," he said, pulling out a folder of papers from his desk drawer. Since the SEAL base didn't have any place for bunks or sleeping quarters we were usually given a hotel room to stay in. We all knew there was only one hotel in all of Port Italia and it was very fancy and highly guarded. It was also the tallest building in the city with fifteen floors. A few government officials were staying there at the moment, needing the security from the people. "So, you'll be staying at the Hotel PI for the next few days since the president is going to need as much guard as he can get. I want you all rested and ready for tomorrow. I need you on Market Street tomorrow morning at 900 hours, sharp. The president's motorcade comes down that street at noon and I need it clear and safe for him to pass through by the time his plane lands. Can you do that?"

"With pleasure, sir," I said with a fake smile. With pleasure my ass.

He grinned, seeming to believe me before standing to shake my hand. "Thank you, Lieutenant." The folder of papers was given to me before he leaned over and shook Bella's hand as well. "See you at 900 hours."

"Yes, sir," I said. "Good night, sir."

"And to you," he murmured before I turned to leave. Bella was faster and she was down the hallway in a flash, not even looking my way. I sighed, rubbing my eyes as I trailed after her. I really needed a hot shower and a warm bed. Thank God I was getting it tonight.

After explaining to the guys what was happening and getting still no more looks from Bella, we headed off for the hotel. Emmett was excited since he heard there was a twenty-four hour buffet there. Idiot. He always thought with his stomach or his dick. Either way, it usually led him to disaster.

By the time we reached the hotel parking lot it was night around us. The guards patrolling gave us looks, watching our every move as we all grabbed our duffels that held a change of clothes and the essentials in it before going to the lobby. It felt good to know there was someone other than ourselves watching our backs. Mamun and I took care of the man at the front desk as he handed us our room keys and wished us a pleasant stay. He looked scared stiff of us but at least he tried to smile. I was glad we were given two rooms instead of one because sleeping in a bed while Bella was in the same room would be nerve racking. The hotel room was like any other. A bathroom with a shower, toilet and sink, a cupboard and dresser that held a small television set and two big beds. There was a door that joined us to the other room and a balcony that looked over the city. I decided that I wanted two people to stay awake for a few hours before waking someone else to take their place. Like I said before, you could never be too prepared.

Emmett still wanted food so he took Newton with him to go downstairs and find something to eat. Mamun decided to put his feet up and flick through the television. Jasper went to take a shower in one of the bathrooms while Bella ignored me some more. Depressed, I went into the other room and took a shower myself. The warm water was soothing against my sore muscles and the complimentary soap made me feel cleaner than I'd felt in days. I swore I must have taken at least an hour in there before I finally stepped out and got dressed. Just as I was buttoning my pants I realized I forgot to bring a shirt in with me. Groaning in annoyance, I threw the towel around my neck and stormed out the bathroom.

I froze when I got into the room again. Bella was the only other one in the room and she was searching through her duffle bag on the bed. She looked up when I opened the door and her actions stopped as she stared at me. We stared at one another for a while before I cleared my throat nervously. Was that opened mouthed, wide-eyed face a good thing or not? Did she like what she saw? I swallowed heavily and mumbled something about getting a shirt before squeezing past her into the other room where Mamun was napping on the bed and Jazz was just coming out of the bathroom.

"Dude," he chuckled. "What's up with you? You look like you just saw a ghost."

**BPOV**

Holy shit. Jesus Christ. Mother Fucker, what just happened? I kept my back against the bathroom door with my heart flying in my chest and my duffle in my hands. What I saw had to be a dream, right? A shirtless Edward Masen did not just walk out of this very bathroom…right?

But it seemed so real. The way his shower darkened bronze hair clung to his forehead and the pink that tinged his cheeks and the vibrant green of his eyes all had to be a dream. The way his strong shoulders were built and his arms gleamed with steam all the way down to his long piano fingers had to be apart of my imagination. There was no way I was able to see his thin body, flat chest and killer stomach that you could grate cheese on. It was all made up in my horny mind when I saw that drip of water slowly making it's way down his ab's and past his happy trail to joy land. Damn he looked fine in those cargo pants that hung below his hips accentuating his perfect V.

Ugh! I was unconsciously licking my lips while I stood in the bathroom, alone with the man who starred in my sexiest dreams in the other room. I was supposed to hate him! He was a completely egotistical, conceited ass and he deserved to be fired for mistreating a woman! But God damn it if I wasn't attracted to him.

Shit, I was going to Hell. Well, I thought. If I had Edward there with me then let me burn baby. Let. Me. Burn.

**x_x_x_x _x_x_x**

**Slang:**

1900 hours – 7:00 pm

900 hours – 9:00 am

**Locations:**

**Tenga** – Village in this chapter. Means "separate" or "isolated" in Swahili.

**Ungana** – Not a real high way. Means "unite" in Swahili.

**Author's Note:**

**1. **If you can't picture the deserts they're driving through, search **Highway Mauritania – Part 1** on YouTube. It's how I pictured it just with the team's voices in the background. :D

**2.** I've been taking this slow because I've just got an idea for an actual novel. I'll tell you right now it's a fantasy and a romance. I really like the idea as well as my idea for a screenplay (cough) Rob should be in it (cough). So I might, in the future, post little snippets of that story on my LiveJournal (see profile for link). But not to worry, I won't give up on this one! I still love my SEAL team! Never abandon your brothers (even if I'm a girl)!

**3. **Yes, I added a little of Bella POV at the bottom there. I thought she needed to discibe to the readers how beautiful Eddie's body is. (grin) The 'grate cheese' thing is from a Stephen Colbert episode where he talks about David Beckham. Ever seen Becks shirtless? That's pretty much how Eddie looks from his feet to his neck. Not that Rob's body gorg, cause it is, but I love Roberts face even more. The eyes are to die for!

**4. **Hey! Guess what! School is starting up again and guess who's going into the twelfth grade? Oh yeah! She rules the school! Can I get a hell yeah? (readers yell hell yeah) That's right! So that also means my education is coming first and writing is second. So it might take me longer to finish chapters, I dunno how tough my teachers'll be this year (other than my Yearbook and Computer Technologies teacher. He's awesome.) So yes. I'm sorry if you'll be bored without my stories. Leave me some love and remind me to keep writing. Lmao

_**NOW PRESS THE REVIEW BUTTON DOWN THERE, PRONTO!**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**WARNING: The following story contains violence, coarse language and mature subjects. Readers discretion is advised.**_

**Disclaimer: **Roses are red, violets are blue. I don't own Twilight, so please don't sue!

**x_x_x_x _x_x_x**

As the night progressed I began to agree with my decision to stay in the room without Bella in it. I was sitting up at the small table by the balcony. The curtains were closed, keeping out the bright lights and loud city traffic. It was a good thing for the team but not a good thing for me. I was fighting to keep myself awake as I slouched in one of the hard chairs, the dim light of the muted television was my only companion. Emmett was sprawled across one of the beds, his snores loud and sounding a lot like a dying cow. Since Em's big body covered one whole bed Jasper was in the other, sleeping quietly on his side without a peep. In the chair across from me was Newton who was breathing heavily as the drool dripped down his chin. He had told me he would stay awake and keep watch with me since there was no way I was letting him in the other room with Bella. But of course the dick was counting sheep only about five minutes into our time.

I was proud of my decision to send Mamun into the other room to watch over Bella. I wouldn't be able to since my mind was still in the gutter. It had been over an hour since the incident with Bella but I still couldn't forget about her face. How easy could it have been to have just kissed her right then and there? That is if she wanted it. If she didn't want me then I was setting myself up for disappointment and frustration both physically and emotionally. How could one woman cause me so much trouble? I used to be confident that women liked me, but with Bella, I could never figure it out.

The door connecting this room to the other opened and a very dreary looking Mamun poked his head through. "Shift," he muttered in a tired voice as he yawned, covering his mouth with his hand like the polite gentleman he was. I nodded, yawning in response before pulling myself to my feet to wake Jazz and Em. Emmett groaned like a kid getting up for school and it took a few pushes to actually get him on his feet. Jasper easily woke right up and slid into the other room to watch Bella. I felt better when Em took my seat and didn't go to watch Bella. He wasn't exactly the person I wanted looking after a beautiful woman, in a bed, alone.

Sighing in relief I slid into one of the beds and closed my eyes, allowing myself to fall into a deep sleep. It had been a while since I had been in a real bed and even though I was still fully dressed and lying on top of the covers, my body felt relaxed instantly. It was like one second I was awake and the next I was asleep. And the dreams I had that night were unlike anything I'd ever experienced. Not something I'd tell anyone about. These night time 'liaisons' and the woman who starred in them were for my mind alone.

**x_x_x_x _x_x_x**

The booming sound of Emmett's voice jarred me from my sweet dreams. Just as it was getting to the best part. I sighed, sitting up and running a hand through my hair which was already standing on end. I never bothered to tame it except on special occasions. The thing had a mind of it's own. It only took a few short months for me to grow it all back from the buzz cut I was given when I joined the SEALs. Pretty impressive and important since the ladies did like something to grab on to.

Em was bellowing about how great the food was at the hotel restaurant. Being in a place where religion was a large part of their culture, food wasn't really cheese burgers and French fries. It was more traditional and definitely no bacon or pork. But the hotel did cater to their guests and served things like eggs, toast and coffee. Emmett, being the child he was, had got himself pancakes before drowning them in syrup. I rolled my eyes before pulling myself off the bed and going to pour myself a cup of coffee from the tray Emmett and Newton had brought up from downstairs. I needed it for the day we had ahead of us and although my sleep had been deep it hadn't been very long.

Mamun decided to have a quick shower which left no one in the room with Bella. Jasper looked up at me from his plate of food, almost afraid I would get him to go wake Bella. I shook my head, waving my hand at him before putting my coffee down and quietly going into her room. I could do this. I was just waking her up, not jumping into the bed with her. And that's what I got for sleeping in a testosterone filled room.

It was dark, the curtains closed to keep out the early morning sunlight but I could clearly see her form in one of the beds. She was still deeply asleep, her back rising and falling as she slept on her stomach. I swallowed and stepped carefully towards her, afraid she would wake up and see me creeping around her. That would be a good day starter. "Hey Bella!" I would say. "Just came in here to wake you but I changed my mind and decided to watch you sleep instead." Very suave, Masen.

Soon I was close enough to touch her back, which was facing me. "Bella," I murmured, fearing to reach out and touch her. If I did, would it scare her? Would it scare me? But she didn't wake up or make any moves at all. She just kept sleeping. That meant I had to touch her. Shake her shoulder gently or maybe rub her arm. Or rip off her clothes? God, I really was a dick.

I bit the bullet and reached out, touching her shoulder and shaking her slightly. "Bella," I whispered. "Bella, you have to get up." Jesus, her skin was warm and soft. I let my fingers gently squeeze her shoulder, reveling in the feeling of her warmth.

She inhaled deeply and moaned in her sleep. Mother fucker. That did so many things to me that were wrong but I couldn't stop it. I sucked in a breath of air, taking in her sweet perfume, before shakily letting it out. I needed to calm myself down before she woke up and found out how much of a pervert I really was. I gritted my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut before shaking her shoulder again. "Bella," I called in a strained voice with ragged breath. "_Please_ wake up."

My hand shot away when she turned over on to her back and stretched her arms over her head. Damn me if it wasn't a sight to behold. Finally, _finally_, she opened her eyes and met mine. I knew my own eyes were probably burning with desire but she looked more confused than angry. "What time is it?" she asked in a groggy voice.

I looked away, breaking our eye contact to pull up my sleeve and check my watch. "700 hours," I answered, looking back at her.

"Seven o'clock?" she asked. "In the morning?"

I nodded, telling her she was right with her guess about the military versus real time. "Give or take a few minutes," I said with a small smile. I was still lusting after her even though she looked very adorably confused. She wasn't a morning person, that was for sure.

"Oh," she said and pulled herself up into a sitting position. I moved away from her as she yawned and quickly covered her mouth. She looked up at me from under her eyelashes and suddenly her eyes widened and she looked away. The blush covered her cheeks and now I felt confused. What had I done to make her react that way? I looked down at myself to see nothing out of the ordinary. I had managed to calm myself down enough so there shouldn't be anything that should get this reaction out of her.

She cleared her throat. "I'm going to the bath….the bathroom," she stuttered before whipping the covers off her legs and jumping out the bed. She was dressed in a old t-shirt and sweats that were too big for her body but no matter how she was dressed she still looked amazing to me. Especially with messy hair that fell haphazardly around her face. She squeezed past me quickly, not noticing the way I reacted when I felt her chest brush against my arm. It only took a few moments for her to reach the bathroom and close to door.

What just happened? I shook my head and just stared at the door she had closed on me. What had I done to make her act like that? Giving up with one last confused glance at the bathroom, I went back to our room to find the guys practically finished their plates. I sat myself down in one of the tables chairs and picked at my food, still pondering the absurd reaction Bella had given me. Was it something I said? Did she notice the darkness of my eyes and the way I reacted around her? Was she putting two and two together?

"You not hungry, Ed?" Emmett asked, startling me from my thoughts.

"Naw," I muttered, shoving the plate of food towards him before leaning back in my chair again to run my hands through my hair in frustration. He didn't seem to notice but Jasper was giving me odd looks from where he sat across the room. He could probably see right through me. I pressed my lips together and broke my eye contact with him to stare out the now open balcony door.

The sun was just rising over the buildings and you could see the Red Sea from the hotel, the waters already a cool blue and choppy in the breeze. You could even see a few of the hills to the west, the lilac skies complimenting the green of the grasses and trees. Everything looked so peaceful in the distance but the city sounds brought you right back to reality. Port Italia was awake and had been all night long. The blaring of horns and the revving of engines made people realize where they were. This was not a peaceful relaxing place, this was a booming city that never slept.

"It's good to feel clean again," Mamun's cheerful voice came as he loped towards us and sat down on the bed beside a still quiet Jasper. He grinned widely at all of us and I nodded in greeting while Emmett laughed again.

"What, Moony?" he chuckled. "Never liked being dirty? Even when you were a kid?"

He scoffed and crossed his arms. "There's nothing wrong with a man wanting to be clean," he said. "I happen to enjoy it very much." Em opened his mouth to say something but Mamun cut him off. "And if you say 'that's what she said'..."

"I wasn't gonna say that!" Emmett cried. We all looked at him knowingly. He rightfully kept his mouth shut and turned back to my plate which he was devouring quite quickly. We all chuckled.

"Mornin' Bella," Jasper's southern drawl made my head snap up. She smiled timidly before slowly stepping into the room, whispering a 'good morning' in return. The guys seemed to instantly light up. Maybe Bella was a good thing for the team. She was just a bad thing for me.

It didn't take long for her to finish her breakfast (not that I was watching her or anything) and soon we were suiting up for what looked like a very long day. By 800 hours we were all packed into the Jeep and heading for the SEALs base for a quick check in with the Commander. I wanted to know if they'd found out what those odd, blue cell phones were for. They would have news about the weapons we'd collected by now and I had a feeling that I needed to know about them. Call it intuition.

I went into the base, trusting Mamun to keep a close eye on Bella, and went straight for Highland's office. At least the receptionist wasn't at her desk. I really couldn't take her incessant flirting today. The Commander was in his office, sorting through a few of his papers when I knocked on his door. He grinned widely and waved me inside. I decided to stand instead of taking up his offer of a seat.

"How can I help you, Lieutenant?" he asked cheerfully.

"Well I was wondering about those weapons we commandeered, sir," I said respectfully, trying to keep the urgency out of my voice.

"Ah, yes," he said before opening one of the folders on his desk and pulling out a sheet of paper. "Ah, our weapons specialists had a look at those cell phones and it seems your Petty Officer would be correct. They are detonators and some seem to be rigged to explosives." I shivered at the possibility's. "We're in the process of tracking them down but we're not sure if that is all of the detonators. Some might still be floating around out there in the wrong hands. Keep a watchful eye."

"Will do, sir," I murmured, putting that in the back of my mind to remember later.

"Now I hope you're all heading down to Market Street," he said, giving me a look.

"Of course, sir," I said, nodding. "We're just heading there now."  
"Excellent," he cried. "Good luck, Masen."

"Thank you," I muttered before leaving the room. I couldn't wait until he retired. I was really getting tired of him and his phony attitude. I needed someone I could trust, not a wishy-washy Commander who I always thought twice about.

Emmett wasn't surprised when I told him he was right about the cell phones. He celebrated briefly before we all clambered into the Jeep again and took off for Market Street with Jasper as navigator. The brake was my best friend in this city. My foot seemed to be pushing it more times than the accelerator. When the car in front of me stopped I braked. When a kid came flying out of no where on his bike I braked. When the guy beside me cut me off with his little car I braked. It was a really jarring ride through the busy streets. It kind of reminded me of Chicago. Just without the snow.

Market Street was just what it was called. A market and one of the busiest places in the city. Cars tended to avoid the area since there were so many people milling around and shopping which meant it would take them longer to get wherever they were going. But as we pulled up into a tight ally to park the car we could see a few other vehicles lined up against the sidewalks. Most likely the people that lived above the stores.

I gave Newton look out again but partnered him with Jazz so Em could stretch his legs a little. Jasper didn't complain when I told him he was on Jeep guard duty. The guy just took everything in stride. I was going to pair Bella up with Mamun but he immediately took Emmett and told me it would help him a lot if he had Em with him. Liar. That sneaky little bastard was trying to get me to spend more time with Bella. Damn Moony and his match making skills!

And so that was how I got stuck walking beside Bella and feeling very awkward. She just continued to snap pictures and jot down things on her notepad. She could definitely multi-task. I on the other hand was having difficulty focusing on my task. Everyone was to keep an eye out for anything suspicious until the president paraded down the street with his little convoy of followers. Of course he would pick the busiest road to come down. Asshole. I wasn't anyone's fucking lap dog but this bodyguard shit made me feel like one.

I sighed, lifting the sleeve of my camo jacket I decided to wear to see my watch. It was nearing 900 hours and soon we wouldn't have to walk around this busy little street in the blazing heat. At the moment I was kicking myself for not eating the food when I could have. I suddenly felt really hungry when we passed a small restaurant and you smell the amazing spices from inside. I swallowed heavily and felt my stomach rumble. Jesus, I was starving.

I turned to inform Bella how much time we had left when something caught my eye. That man who was swiftly walking across the street looked a little too suspicious. I watched as he jogged up the sidewalk and towards an ally. He seemed to continually look over his shoulder towards the small car he had left. Squinting through the hoards of people that walked past him I saw something that made my heart stop. Just as he disappeared into the ally I saw it. In his hand was a bright blue cell phone.

"Fuck!" I hissed, spinning around before yelling as loud as I could. "Get down!"

Everything seemed to go in slow motion from that point. The adrenaline was pounding through my system. I was high on it as if it were a drug. I snapped my body around and saw Bella's bewildered face looking up at me. Before she could say anything I grabbed her arm and pulled her as far away from the car as I could possibly go before yanking her to the ground and gathering her body in my arms. I quickly hid her face against my chest just as the car exploded behind me.

The explosion rocked the street beneath us and forced me to push Bella further toward the ground until her back was pressed against the dirt and my body was shielding her completely. My ears protested at the thunderous sound of the blast and I could feel the heat of the flames licking against my back. It was painful as hell but I wasn't about to let Bella become vulnerable in this. I would protect her with my life.

Just as the sounds of the explosion faded there was an eerie silence. You could hear the sound of the fire, you could smell the burning, you could feel the heat…you could sense the death. Just as I thought that, the screaming and crying began. Everything was in a foreign tongue and I suddenly felt very confused. There was sobbing and what sounded like prayers but everything was in a language I couldn't understand. I needed to stop this confusion. I had something I had to do…

The fast inhale from my arms made me snap out of my haze. Opening my eyes I looked down to see Bella gripping my jacket, her eyes wide and focused on what was over my shoulder. Jesus, was she alright? I moved my arms from around her to free my hands, taking her face gently. "Bella," I said in a raspy voice. "Bella, talk to me."

Her eyes snapped to mine, so brown, so innocent…so empty. Fuck. What was wrong with her? I could feel her heart thumping in her chest and the twitching of her body but her eyes showed no kind of emotion. She was just…blank.

"Edward!" a familiar voice cried from behind me. I didn't answer or look away from Bella. I just kept eye contact with her, begging for that fire in her eyes to return. Jesus, what if she was never going to be herself again? What if this experience changed her for life? I would never be able to forgive myself if she never returned to the stubborn, shy, beautiful woman she was.

"Edward!"

There was that voice again. And it was closer this time. Almost right by my still ringing ear. I felt a hand squeeze my shoulder. "Edward." Suddenly I remembered who it was.

"Moony," I muttered, answering him but still not looking away from her. She was still blank, damn it. "Moony…there's something wrong with her. I don't know what but you've got to help her. I can't let her stay like this. God damn it, she's empty looking and pale and -"

"Edward!" Mamun called, squeezing my shoulder again. "Calm down, son. She's going to be alright. Just calm down. Breathe for a moment. She's safe now. I promise."

He slowly he took my arms and pulled them away from her. I itched to grab a hold of her again but I stopped myself and dropped my arms. He would help her. He promised he would and Mamun was one of the best medics I knew. I saw him move into my sight before he gently took Bella's face, pulling out a penlight and flashing it in her eyes. She didn't respond.

"Come on, Ed," a gruff voice murmured from behind me. I felt Emmett pull me to my feet and keeping his arm around my waist to hold me up. I felt limp and useless as I stared at a still unresponsive Bella. She had to be alright. She just had to be.

The sound of screeching tired made me turn away from her and see the ambulance already on the scene. The scene. It was horrible. The object that used to be a car was consumed by flames. The thick, black smoke was sent skyward, leaving the area around it in a haze of grey. Windows were smashed, brick walls were slowly crumbling, the metal framework of the car was black and the street was a sickening shade of burgundy. My stomach heaved at the sight of the bodies now surrounding the shopping district. Those who were not on the ground, surrounded by their own blood, were rushing about screaming in confusion or knelt over the bodies of their loved ones. Cries of despair echoed around us and I again felt sick. So much loss. So much death. And this was my job.

Yes, this was my job and right now I could not just stand here and do nothing. I was here to serve and protect and since I'd failed at the protection part I would have to serve these people in their time of need. My team needed a leader and I was all they had.

Slowly I turned to see something that lightened my mood. Bella was responding to Moony's commands. He told her to look up and she did. He told her to look down and she did. She was coming back. I let out a breath of relief and pulled myself away from Emmett's grip. She was alright now, which meant I was alright. I had to do this on my own. They were counting on me and I would not let them down.

"Moony," I said in a clear voice. He looked at me in surprise and relief. "I need you to take Bella back to the hotel." There would be no place for her at the hospital today. All she needed was rest and quiet and I trusted Mamun to keep her safe. She needed something comforting so she could recover from the tragic event that had unfolded in front of her innocent eyes. "Take Jazz with you in the Jeep. Em, Newton and I will stay here to help."

He paused for a moment. "Yes, CO," he said with a small smile. It was a sort of good-job smile. A I'm-proud-of-you smile. I couldn't accept his praise since I didn't deserve it.

He slowly got to his feet and brought Bella up with him. She looked shaky but he held her fast and nodded to me before half dragging her back towards the Jeep. I watched them go, a part of me leaving with her as soon as they turned into the ally and disappeared from my view.

"You sure you can handle this, Masen?" Emmett asked me as we both turned back to the task at hand.

"It's my job, Em," I answered. "I have to be able to handle it." And we set to work.

**x_x_x_x _x_x_x**

The day was as tiring as I thought it would be just this morning. Everything seemed so different from when the sun first rose to when it set. It seemed happy and carefree when we began but now it was horrifying and dangerous.

Emmett, Newton and I stayed for hours to help those who were affected by the blast. We carried the injured who couldn't fit into the crowded ambulances to the hospital, tried to calm the hysterical witnesses and cover the bodies with anything to hide their gruesome death from their loved ones eyes. So many tears were shed I was sure it could make a river.

So much sorrow was around me that I felt depressed and angry at myself. Why didn't take out the man before he got the time to set off the bomb? He was right fucking there and all I did was stare! I was such a useless asshole! It had all been my fault. My fault…

Those words rang in my head over and over again until Jasper came by the hospital at dusk to take us back to the hotel. I sat in the passenger seat in silence. The whole car was in silence. After the things we had witnessed, no one had anything to say. Jasper broke it when he began to talk about his visit to the Commander. He told us he had dropped Mamun and Bella off at the hotel before heading over to the SEAL base to check in with Highland. He told the Commander everything that had happened and Intel was dispatched to the bloody Market Street to look for clues as to who was behind the attack. I had never seen them since the team and I were back and forth between there and hospital all day.

Jazz went on to talk about what happened to the president. The message was sent on to his private plane and they didn't even touch down in Tembo Bara. The pilot turned the aircraft right around and went back the way they had came. The bomb was seen as a message to the president. The people did not want him here. But they had never went this far with the violence. Sure there had been protests and rallies but never had there been an attack where they harmed their own people. Something wasn't right.

I had no time to ponder this because we had reached the hotel and I desperately needed to cleanse my mind from the horrible memories that surfaced. The blood. The dark sheets covering the dead. An old woman crying over a lost loved one as she prayed continually. Sometimes the world was such an evil place. Sometimes I wished reality wasn't so real.

We came inside the room to find Mamun sitting on the edge of the bed alone. I looked questioningly at him and he shook his head. "She's fine," he answered. "Just taking a shower right now."

I nodded and excused myself to the bathroom so I myself could take a shower. I needed to get rid of the memories that haunted me and the small amounts of blood that were on my clothes and skin. As soon as I had the door closed I ripped off my shirt and had the urge to burn it. The blood was smeared on the cotton fabric and the smell was terrible. I tossed it on to the floor as far away from me as possible and the bathroom suddenly became too small.

In the shower I scrubbed my skin until it was red raw. I felt like Lady Macbeth for a moment. The blood just didn't seem to disappear. Was it really not coming off or was I going insane? After a few minutes I finally told myself to get out of the shower and face the team again. I wasn't the only one who needed to wash away the memories.

I came out as clean as I could get myself but I still felt dirty. The guilt was eating away at me and it was almost too much to see my team looking up at me with sullen eyes and bowed heads. They were just like I was. Blaming themselves.

I couldn't stand to be in a room with so much guilt in it. I went up to Mamun who was still sitting in the same place on the bed. "How long has Bella been in the shower?" I asked him in as steady a voice as I could.

"A few minutes, why?" he asked.

"I need you to check on her if she doesn't come out in five minutes," I said and before he could answer I left the room and went to the balcony, sliding the door closed behind me.

The wind played with my hair as I leaned against the iron fence that surrounded the little terrace overlooking the city. It was still busy but there seemed to be an eerie silence that was covering the area. The sounds were too low, the wind was too cold, the night was too dark. Everything had changed.

I heard the door slide open and closed behind me and soon Moony was leaning against the railing too. We didn't speak to one another, just looked out at the buildings surrounding us. He inhaled deeply before I finally broke the silence. "How could this happen?" I asked him. "The people are supposed to protect their own, not kill each other. It doesn't make sense!"

"Nothing makes sense anymore, Edward," he said softly. "We live in a world where violence seems like the only answer." He sighed and shook his head. "This is not the people's fault, we must remember that. It is those who have manipulated them into these tasks who are at fault. Not the citizens, not me and certainly not you."

I growled in response. He had seen my guilt ridden face and was trying to make me feel better. "He was right there! I saw him! If I had taken him out then none of this would have -"

"Everything happens for a reason," he interrupted me forcefully. "This terrible tragedy was meant to happen only to bring something good with it."

"Yeah well I don't really believe in all of this philosophical mumbo jumbo anyway," I muttered.

He chuckled. "Oh don't you?" he asked.

I smirked. "I try to stay out of my head but it still pulls me in and lets me drown."

Suddenly the door slid open behind us again. "Edward?" I turned to see Jasper's head peeking out from inside. "You better come and look at this."

Frowning I followed him inside with Moony right behind me. He took us into the next room and to the open bathroom door where Emmett was leaning. I passed by Jazz and stood in the door frame, staring at the form that had captured all our attentions.

Under the shower head, curled up into a ball with her clothes soaking wet was Bella. Her arms were around her legs with her knees hiding her face from us. Watching her closely you could see the little shivers running through her body. I wasn't sure how long she'd been under the water but from the way she was shaking it had obviously turned cold.

I felt Moony move forward from behind me to help her but I stopped him. We looked at one another for a moment before he finally gave in and shooting one last worried look in Bella's direction he turned and herded the rest of the guys out the room. I heard the connecting door close and that left me alone with her. And she obviously needed some kind of comfort.

I slowly approached her and she didn't even seem to notice. Only the sound of my hesitant footsteps and the splash of the water against the tile was heard. I felt like I was moving in on a doe. I didn't want to frighten her but I needed to get to her. She needed some kind of reassurance that everything would be okay and that she had someone to fall back on. I surprised myself yet again when I suddenly wanted to be that person.

Moving slowly I reached in a turned off the shower but she didn't make any movements. I sighed and without even stopping to think for a second I stepped into the shower stall and sat my ass down next to her. I could only feel the wet seeping through my dry clothes for a second before my attention turned to her. Bella's heavy breathing cut off and oh so slowly her head lifted to look at me. Her eyes were red rimmed and her cheeks were glistening with tear tracks, wet hair falling across her face. God, she looked like hell. She had been through hell. Someone as innocent as Bella should have never been introduced to a world like mine.

She sniffed back her tears, still staring at me with her eyes shining in the dim light. Then she suddenly collapsed against my chest and the sobs racked her body. I was surprised for a half a second before the urge to comfort her took me over again. I hesitantly wrapped my arms around her shaking body and tucked her head under my chin. Her cries echoed around the bathroom and I held her tighter against my side as she gripped my shirt.

Just holding her like this felt so intimate but not in the I-want-to-fuck-you way. In the I-want-to-be-close-to-you way. I could feel her heartbeat and her warm skin under her wet shirt and I could smell the sweet perfume of her hair. Everything just seemed to stop at that moment. There was no danger around us. There was no death. There was no suffering. It was just us. Together.

I gripped her body as she let out a hard cough followed by another whimper. "All those people," she cried in a raspy voice.

"I know," I said softly.

We were silent for a moment before she spoke again in a whisper. "I'm scared."

I sighed, holding her tighter and pressing my cheek against her wet hair. "I've got you," I murmured. "I've got you."

**x_x_x_x _x_x_x**

**Slang:**

800 hours - 8:00 am

**Author's Note:**

**1. **Thank you to the person who commented on my wrong spelling of 'probably'. Very helpful. Although, to the person who pointed out all of my mistakes and rudely stated I needed a beta, you were not helpful. If you don't like my story, don't read it.

**2. **More songs have been added to the list on my profile. And they are all now links to the songs on YouTube.

**3. **The last part was really sweet yet heartbreakingly sad huh? Lets all give love to sweet Sealward. I added a pretty little guitar instrumental to the music list for you to listen to while re-reading that part. :D By the way, if you can't tell, Bella has gone into some sort of shock from witnessing the bomb. Since she has never seen something like it she's kind of out of it and not able to control her actions from when she won't respond to Mamun to crying on Edward's shoulder. You'll see the real Bella return in the next chapter. I think you'll all like the next one. (smirk)

**4. **Do you guys like my Shakespeare reference? I've already read _Macbeth_ last year so this year we're reading _Hamlet_. The guys insane, let me tell you. But then again, aren't they all? I'm also doing an end of the year project on _Watership Down _so if anyone's read the book and done an essay on it, tell me. Not that I'm cheating…(innocent smile)

_**NOW PRESS THE REVIEW BUTTON DOWN THERE, PRONTO!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**WARNING: The following story contains violence, coarse language and mature subjects. Readers discretion is advised.**_

**Disclaimer: **Roses are red, violets are blue. I don't own Twilight, so please don't sue!

**x_x_x_x _x_x_x**

Last night had been difficult…for both of us. It was harder than the night before. The night before had been all about me and how I felt but now, it was all about Bella.

I stayed with her, there in the shower for a while. I wasn't really counting time or noticing the cold water that was chilling my skin. All of my focus was on the shaking Bella who clung to my side like the water around us would turn into a raging river and she'd be dragged away by it's current. She just seemed so scared, so fragile and so damn innocent at that moment.

I soon realized I couldn't just keep her here where she could potentially freeze. She needed a change of clothes, a warm bed and a good night's rest. So, how was I going to accomplish all of that when I craved the woman in every way? Not only that but (call me a hypocrite) it seemed un-gentlemanly to take her clothes off when she wasn't exactly all there. So I had to make a decision. Either let her freeze or embarrass her beyond all reason. I thought it over as I held her gently in my arms and felt her cold skin shaking against mine. It made up my mind for me.

Slowly, I lifted myself away from her chilled body to get to my feet. She whimpered, sliding down the wall farther until I caught her arms and pulled her up. She collapsed against me, her body shaking not only from the cold but from the exertion of standing. I murmured encouragement to her before gently dragging her out of the shower stall and out onto the bathroom floor. Her feet slid easily across the tile and I felt like I was holding a rag doll instead of a full grown woman. She said nothing the whole time, only a few whimpers and groans leaving her lips as I rested her back against the sink. She didn't fall when I let her go, my hands still outstretched to catch her, but her whole body drooped forwards as if she couldn't hold herself upright.

I sighed before taking her face in my hands and staring into her brown eyes. She looked back sadly and I felt my chest ache for her. The horrors she had seen that day were like nothing she had ever experienced. She'd probably never seen a gun fired let alone a bomb go off. She didn't belong here, at all. She needed to go home and live the suburban life she was destined for. Find a man who could support her and be there when she needed him. Well, knowing Bella, she'd probably make most of the money herself.

Knowing Bella? I'd known her for only a few days! I was acting like I'd known her forever which was ridiculous. Bella was too complicated and introverted for me to know anything about her. What kind of secrets would she tell me? After all, I was only the guy here to protect her. She'd find someone worth while, someone who wouldn't be on call everyday for years before taking off to foreign countries for months on end. Yeah, that's who she needed.

I shook my head, dispelling it of these thoughts. God. I was acting like I was fucking in love with her or something. Wait…what?

Bella's groan made my thoughts disappear and my attention settle on her. She hissed through her teeth as she pulled herself further up on to the sink. I helped her, letting my hands rest on her sides as she got more comfortable. Her shirt was soaking wet and cold to the touch. It reminded me of the task I had at hand. Get Bella undressed and warm.

Her eyes opened and looked at me as I smiled half-heartedly. Her lips turned up slightly in response. "Bella," I whispered and her eyes flickered in recognition of her name. "I need to get you out of these clothes but I don't think…I don't think it would be a good idea if I did it."

She pressed her lips together and looked deep in thought for a moment with that furrowed brow. Suddenly, her hands went to the hem of her tee shirt and she started to pull it upwards. I spun around as fast as I could, catching the smallest glimpse of her stomach before my eyes went to the adjacent wall. Don't turn around, I chanted to myself over and over again. She deserved some kind of decency from me. I was not some savage animal. I didn't think with my dick (sometimes). And I was not going to treat her like a piece of meat.

I suddenly realized she needed something dry to wear. Looking around frantically without turning to look at her, I searched for something she could wear. Without anything on hand I had to think quickly. Damn this was more stressful than any hostage situation. I could hear her clothes hitting the floor with a wet splat each time and needed to think fast. Finally I realized my shirt was still dry and although it was a little…well smelly, it was still large enough to cover her. Quickly, I pulled the shirt over my head and handed it to her without turning around. "Here," I said. "Put this on."

The shirt left my hand and I could hear her pulling it on, the fabric running over her soft skin. Fuck. Now I was jealous of a damn tee shirt! I waited a moment before she whispered that I could turn around. I knew this was going to be hell for my lower regions but I had to see. Slowly, I turned my head and almost passed out at what I saw. There she was, standing in my tee shirt that barely hit mid thigh on her. The navy colour of the shirt looked much better on her than it did on me. I'd have to make her wear my shirts more often.

The blush covered her cheeks as she looked away. Good. At least she was becoming herself again. Maybe the shock was wearing off. Hopefully, I was right.

"Come on," I said, clearing my throat in the process. She nodded and pushed herself off the sink. I watched carefully as she moved one foot at a time before reaching the door. It was like a toddler learning her first steps. I felt my chest ache again, just seeing her look so helpless. She stumbled and I thanked my developed reflexes as I dove forward to catch her. I couldn't be sure but I thought I heard her curse under her breath as she grabbed my arms for balance. I sure as hell didn't mind it. It was her hands on my skin, how could I complain? But maybe Bella didn't want that. Or maybe she hated depending on others. Another reason why Bella would probably bring home the bacon in her family.

Gently, I led her out of the bathroom and towards the bed. She managed to keep her feet from dragging but she did tend to trip herself. Again, I didn't mind being her anchor. We made our way towards the bed at a snail's pace and I was surprised that my impatience didn't rear it's ugly head. I was enjoying this too much. Finally, we reached our target and I was able to pull back the blankets before she sat down. Bella seemed kind of out of it again, staring at me with an odd expression on her face. Sighing inwardly I bent down, gently wrapping my fingers around one of her calves and lifting it up on to the bed. Damn, how'd she get such soft skin? It was like silk. Silk covering glass, my head reminded me. So I pulled her other leg up quickly and covered her with the blankets before I slipped in there with her.

I moved away slightly but she stopped me with a soft whimper. I frowned at her as her wild eyes stared back. She was frightened, that was for sure. "Don't leave," she said quickly. "I don't want to be alone. Not now…"

I hushed her and shook my head. "I'll be right back," I assured her but she didn't look like she believed me. "I promise." I added. It took her a moment of hesitation before she finally nodded, allowing me to leave her eye sight.

I went to the small closet by the hotel room door, opening it and reaching up on to the top shelf for the extra blankets that were stored there. I found a rather thick cover and decided that would keep her warm along with the sheets that were already covering her shivering body.

When I came back her eyes immediately lit up with relief. I knew I shouldn't have but it felt good to feel wanted by her in any way. Even though she had been through a dramatic catastrophe and only needed someone to be there to watch over her, I still felt wanted. I tried not to look at her as I spread the blanket across the bed and made sure she was underneath it. It wasn't really tucking her in…was it?

When I did look up she was watching me with those brown, doe eyes of hers. I could see the kindling of a fire beginning in the brown pools that stared so intently at me. Maybe I was right to think her shock was wearing away. Maybe she would turn out just fine tomorrow. We'd have to see.

I straightened up and away from her but she didn't say anything. She just looked at me. Well I guess that was a farewell. "Erm," I muttered, rubbing the back of my neck before crossing my arms over my chest and feeling very exposed without my shirt. "Well…good night."

"Wait!" she cried, sitting up. "Don't…don't go. Please."

Her voice was just so begging that all I could do was stare at her. What was I to say to that? Did she only want me here as someone to lean on for now? Would she cast me aside later? I couldn't understand but I did know that I wanted to be here and if she wanted me now, I would take what I could get.

"It's alright," I said quickly before coming back towards her. She relaxed again, falling back against the pillows. She stretched her arm out and patted the spot next to her with a lazy smile and closed eyes. Did she even know what she was getting into? I didn't think so but again, I would take what I could get. So even though my pants were still damp from the shower water and I was shirtless, I climbed into the bed beside her, opting to stay over the covers. I may have been excited but I was still trying to be a gentleman.

As soon as I settled beside her, my back against the headboard, she snuggled closer to me. Again, I was surprised. It was like she had a completely different personality. Usually she saw me as scum on earth but today I was like her…savior? Not that I'm trying to compliment myself but it was the only word I could come up with at that point. After all, her head was resting on my chest and it was kind of difficult to think of anything else.

I must have fallen asleep after that because all I remembered was my short dreams before being blinded by sunlight. My eyes flickered open only to shut again quickly, bringing my hand up to cover them. The rays of early morning were shining through the blinds and right on to my face. I could feel my head aching from the sudden exposure to the sun as I groaned in protest. I did not want to get up right now. I felt so warm and comfortable with the softest pillow clenched in my arms. Wait…pillow?

My eyes opened again, blinking repeatedly before looking down at what was snuggled against my chest. Bella's cheek was resting on my shoulder, her warm breath fanning across my skin and making the goose bumps rise. Her face looked so relaxed with her lips slightly parted and her eyelashes fluttering as she dreamt.

She murmured something I couldn't hear before smiling and throwing her free arm across my stomach. What was she dreaming about, I wondered. About me? That thought made me smile. Did she dream about us together? Alone? I gently ran my fingers up her back and she giggled in her sleep, a small snort finishing off her laughter. I grinned, chuckling lightly at her silly antics as she slept on.

Finally I realized I couldn't stay with her anymore. I had made up my mind about what I wanted to do today and it would be easier if Bella wasn't awake.

Reluctantly, I slowly slipped my arm out from under her body and shuffled away. She grumbled something before reaching out and grabbing a hold of a pillow to crush to her body. I sighed, running a hand through my hair and rubbing my eyes, trying to remove the sleep within them. Why did this feel like a one night stand? I suddenly began to feel awful for letting her sleep in the same bed with me. I felt like I had taken advantage of her. I felt like shit even though it had been the best night's sleep I had ever had.

I stood and took one last look at the sleeping Bella before going to the connecting door and slipping into the other room. I closed it softly after myself before turning to see Mamun sitting on the bed. He had that knowing look in his eyes again and it was freaking me out.

"Don't say it," I muttered before trudging over to my duffle that sat on one of the dining chairs. I needed a shirt on before the others came back.

I heard Mamun sit up on the bed. "I know the feeling, Edward," he said.

"What feeling?" I asked, playing dumb. Finally I found a shirt, pulling it on and keeping my back towards Moony.

"I'm quite sure you know exactly what I'm talking about," he answered calmly.

I didn't say anything to him. Instead, I pulled on my boots and ran my hands through my hair again before heading for the door. "Where are you going?" Moony asked.

"The base," I said, turning once to see him frowning at me. "The Commander and I need to have a little chat." I paused before muttering the rest. "Watch Bella for me." Then without another word I opened the door and strode down the hall.

The lobby was filled with the smells of the buffet's breakfast and I'm sure that's where most of my team was. Most likely, Emmett was leading the line. I by passed that area and went straight out the doors to the parking lot where the Jeep sat waiting for me. This would be another day where I didn't eat in the morning, but I wasn't really thinking with my stomach right now.

The early morning traffic had me on edge. I wanted to get to the base as quickly as possible and talk with the Commander. It was urgent for not only my sanity but for Bella's as well.

I pulled into the SEALs base before jogging towards the open doors. I wasn't as lucky as I was yesterday, it seemed. Gianna, the receptionist, was sitting at her little desk and looked up when I came inside. She grinned widely at me before standing. "Good morning, Lieutenant," she murmured.

"I'm here to see the Commander," I said, cutting right to chase. "It's urgent."

She looked a little surprised by my abrupt answer to her sweet good morning. She blinked a few times before nodding and picking up her phone to speak quietly with the Commander. It was only a moment before she put it back down again and looked up at me. "He's on an important call right now but he should be finished soon."

I nodded before going to lean against the wall across from her desk. She stared at me for a moment before going back to her work. I must have looked a little too pissed off for her to try her flirting again. Well I was angry. I wanted to talk to him now and I get shafted because he's on a phone call? I clenched my hands into fists and tried not to go banging on his door. That would help nothing.

Finally, his door opened and he gave me that blinding grin again. "Masen!" he chuckled, waving me inside his office. "Come in!"

I followed him inside, closing the door after myself before sitting in the chair. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked after settling himself in his own chair.

"It's about Miss. Swan, sir," I said as calmly as I could manage. I really wanted to shout at him but I kept my temper under control…for now.

He frowned. "What seems to be the problem?" he asked.

I inhaled deeply before leaning forward in my chair and staring him straight in the face. "She needs to be taken off of this assignment," I told him slowly.

He looked surprised for a moment before chuckling and shaking his head. "Why should she be taken off this assignment?" he said. "Miss. Swan has been doing a splendid job with reporting this event."

The way he said 'event' made my fingernails dig into my palms. Was this war just an 'event' to him? Was the deaths of civilians just a show? "She went into shock last night, sir," I growled.

He shook his head. "We all go into some sort of shock when we come here, Masen," he said before getting to his feet and going to stand by the window. He pulled a cigarette out of his pocket, lit it and inhaled before blowing out a cloud of grey. Who knew a man with such white teeth smoked? Maybe the stress was finally getting to him…

"Excuse me, sir," I said in a patronizing tone, getting to my feet. "But I must disagree with what you've said. Miss. Swan needs to be flown back to the States as soon as possible."

He turned to look at me, annoyance crossing his face. "Lieutenant Masen," he said in a demanding voice. "There will be no more discussion on this topic. There is no reason why Miss. Swan must be taken off this assignment. She wants to stay on it -"

"But she is not in the right mind!" I snarled. "It's too dangerous for her here!"

His eyes narrowed at me. I was really getting on his nerves now. He flicked his half finished cigarette out the open window before turning to look at me again. "Now you listen here, Lieutenant," he said darkly. "I do not appreciate being sniped at by a lower officer." I started to speak but he cut me off. "No more or I'll see to it that your team shall be reprimanded for this little argument you have started."

My mouth immediately closed. If he had said only I would be reprimanded I would have continued but he had to bring my team into this. I couldn't mess up their careers. They worked to hard for this and I was not about to just blow it for all of them.

Highland saw my change of heart and smirked. Asshole knew my weakness. He returned to his chair and to his work. "You know my decision, Masen," he said calmly. "And I'm glad you now see things my way. Miss. Swan will continue to be apart of your team and I will hear of no more complaints. Is that clear?"

My pause made him look up. "Yes, sir," I spat.

"Good," he said before going to look through his paper work. "I have your assignment. We have a tip off that a farm not that far from here has been showing some suspicious activities. It needs surveillance and action must be taken if there is any danger. The terrorists need to be taken out so there is no repeat of yesterday." As he handed me a map to the location, I wondered if that comment was directed towards me intentionally. "Is that clear?"

"Yes," I said before turning towards the door.

"Yes…?" he asked as I stopped with my hand on the door handle.

"Yes, sir," I growled before leaving the office.

I was striding towards the parking lot until Gianna called out for me. I turned hesitantly to see her waving two letters in her hands. "These came in for you and another member of your team," she said breathlessly. She handed them to me and I looked, smiling to myself. One had my name on it and the other had Jasper's. I would recognize that hand writing anywhere: Alice. Stuffing them in my pocket for later, I nodded to her and took off for the Jeep.

By the time I got back to the hotel room, the whole group was sitting around and talking quietly to one another. They looked up when I entered and I thanked God Bella wasn't in the room.

"Where've you been?" Emmett asked.

"Out," I answered, toeing off my boots before sitting on the bed with Jasper.

"We're not that dumb, Edward," Jazz said with a shake of his head.

I looked at them all and they stared expectantly back at me. I sighed, knowing I couldn't keep these kind of things from my team members. "I went to see the Commander, okay?" I said.

"And the reason for that visit would be…?" Emmett asked with raised eyebrows.

I glared at him before inhaling deeply, the smell of breakfast hitting my senses. While they were all staring at me I reached over and plucked the bread off of Emmett's plate before stuffing it in my mouth. "Hey!" he cried. "I was gonna eat that!"

"Your loss," I said, swallowing the bread and giving my stomach some kind of nutrition.

Emmett grumbled and crossed his arms like a child who was denied a chocolate bar. I smirked at him before speaking again. "All right," I started. "I went to the Commander because…because I wanted Bella to be sent home." I said the last part in a whisper.

"You wanted Bella to go home so you went to the Commander?" Emmett cried loudly.

I was about to give a sarcastic reply when we all heard someone clear their throat. Shit. I turned to see Bella's enraged face staring at me from the door frame. The fire in her brown eyes had never burned so bright and I felt that small amount of relief before the fear set in. She had heard what I'd said. And she was angry.

"Uhh," Mamun stuttered and I felt a little more relief. He would get her to calm down. "I think we should all go and leave these two alone." Wait. What the fuck? My head snapped over to see them all rising and going to the door. Were they insane? I jumped to my feet to follow them but Bella easily stepped in my way. I watched in agony as the door clicked shut, leaving us alone.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" she cried, pointing an accusing finger at me. "How dare you go to your Commander and make him take me off this assignment! You don't know what I've gone through to be here!"

"Bella, you don't understand," I tried to say but she just cut me off.

"No! You don't understand!" she snarled. "I worked for months to get this story! Do you know how many times I had to kiss up to my boss to get this? Do you know how disgusting he is? Do you know how disgusting you are!?" Her voice got louder and louder with each sentence until she was quite literally screaming at me.

"But you don't why I did it-" I tried but again she cut me off.

"No! I know why you did it!" she yelled. "You want me out of the way because you think I'm some sort of weak willed woman! Well guess what asshole! This isn't the middle ages any more and certainly don't need some white fucking knight with a giant ego to come and rescue me! You don't know how tough I am! You don't know me at all!"

I tried repeatedly to tell her what actually happened but she just talked over me. She kept going on and on about how disgusting I was and how tough she was. She wasn't listening to me and there was nothing I could do to make her stop shouting. My head throbbed with a head ache already. I needed her to stop screaming. I stared at her raging face, the fire in her eyes and did something I now know was probably a bad idea. I kissed her.

My hands reached out, grabbed her face and pulled her to me until our lips were pressed together. She froze in shock with her hands still in mid air. I was waiting for that inevitable slap of the face to come but it didn't. Instead, her arms wrapped around my neck and her lips responded eagerly to mine. Fuck, her lips were soft. I felt my logical side shut down as I gave into the need for her. My hands grabbed her waist and crushed her body to mine. I wanted - no I needed to feel her warmth pressed against me. I needed to feel the uneven thumping of her heart. I needed to hear her shaky breath as I broke the kiss to let my lips travel down her neck, tasting her skin. I needed _her_.

She shuddered in my grasp as I breathed heavily against her jaw. I could never deny my want for this woman because I was very…excited…at this point. But who could blame me? It had been one, maybe two, years since I had even touched a woman like this. A man can only go so long without some kind of intimacy. And fuck I wanted her. I never wanted anyone to ever touch her this way. Only I was allowed to worship her body and soul. She was _mine_.

What the fuck am I thinking? Gasping in realization of what I was doing, I pushed her away and stumbled backwards before hitting the wall. I stared at her, the way her chest rose and fell, how her swollen lips were parted in surprise and how those innocent brown eyes watched me. I felt like shit instantly.

Without saying anything she ran out of the room and slammed the door after her. I could barely stand anymore, my legs were shaking so badly. I slid down the wall and into a heap on the floor, my face in my hands. What the hell had I been thinking? I was supposed to protect her not attack her! I groaned in agony. I was so God damned confused! Every cell in my body wanted her but then my logical side was reprimanding me for taking advantage of her. She was just an innocent woman. How could I be so callous towards her?

Then again, how could life be so unfair? The woman I really, truly wanted was unattainable. The woman I really, truly wanted did not want me. No, she hated me. She'd rather go through SEALs training than date me. She'd rather date Newton than she would me. And I noticed, while thinking about these things, my chest ached as if a knife had been plunged into my heart.

**x_x_x_x_x_x_x**

I pulled the Jeep off to the side of the road and into the greenery. In this part of the country there was lush greenery everywhere. Tall palm trees and large bushes surrounded the road we had traveled on for about an hour now. Finally, we had reached what was supposed to be the farm we were to monitor. I drove past the lane that led to the farm and parked a little ways down the road to hide the Jeep while we did surveillance.

As soon as I stepped out of the cool Jeep the heat hit me. And it wasn't just a dry heat, it was a muggy, rainforest type heat. The kind that made you sweat bullets in only a few minutes. The kind that weighed you down and made it difficult to breathe. I sighed, knowing this was going to be a long evening, before joining the team to throw a camouflaged tarp over the vehicle.

After trudging through dense forest and thick, wet mud we reached the outskirts of the farm. It wasn't much, just a little house, a paddock with a few cows grazing and an abandoned building only a few steps away. There were two cars parked by the house and a few dogs chasing chickens but nothing that seemed dangerous. Nonetheless, we snuck towards the building and carefully made our way inside. Jasper and Emmett gave me back up as we went in with our guns raised. But it was just as we expected: empty.

We waved everyone inside and set up our new hide out. I dropped myself in a corner, away from everyone else. Emmett found a ladder leading to the upper level of the building, giving him a good surveillance point. Newton followed him up there, tripping a little on the ladder but ending up safely beside Em. Mamun and Jasper took the window across the room, leaving Bella a little confused as to where to go. I forced my eyes away from her. I promised myself I would no longer worry about Bella Swan. She was just a journalist…a journalist that I happened to have very intimate feelings for.

Shaking my head, I dug into my pockets, pulling out Alice's letters I had to yet to read. I looked over at Jasper, wondering if I should tell him his wife I wrote to him. But then I suddenly felt selfish and ripped open my own letter first. My throat clenched when I saw my little sisters hand writing. I wouldn't admit it out loud but I missed her…a lot. She was annoying as hell but she was still my little Alice.

"_Dear Eddie,_" it read and I had to roll my eyes when she used the name I hated being called. "_Just incase you forgot about me, it's your sister, Alice. You always did have the habit of forgetting about me when the 'cool' kids were around, didn't you?_" I chuckled lightly at her already annoying message. "_Maybe you will remember me when I tell you I was pregnant. Was being the key word. I really wish you were here to say hi to your healthy nephew Masen Edward Whitlock. Jasper and I picked out the name before you all left, one for a girl and one for a boy. I'm sure he'll be happy it's a boy even though he told me he'd be happy either way. You're a man, I'm sure you'd understand the 'legacy of having a son.'" _I grinned again, almost seeing her rolling eyes. "_And I, being the cheesy woman I am, had to give my son the middle name of Edward. After my older (and only) brother whom I wish he could see right now. This whole running off to different countries thing is kind of getting old, don't you think? You definitely need to get yourself a girl._" I inhaled deeply at that sentence, knowing I'd already found the girl I wanted but couldn't have. "_But you better come back with my husband in good working order! This little boy is going to need a sister!_" "Ugh, Alice," I complained. I did not need to know that. "_I know you probably think that last sentence was disgusting but whatever! We all want you home. Mom is worried sick as it is. Don't you miss her cooking yet?_" My mouth began to water at my mothers delicious food. She may have been overly protective but she knew how to cook. "_I hope you read this before Jasper read his. I want you to commit his reaction to memory and tell me about it when you get back._

_Hope you are all safe and when you come home you _will _be on diaper duty, mister. And I'll be sure to set you up on a few dates with some of my single friends. I've seen the way they look at you and besides, your taste in women is crap!_" I laughed, shaking my head. "_Well, that's all I can say right now. I miss you, Eddie. _

_Stay safe. _

_Alice._"

Sighing I folded my letter carefully back into the envelope but I felt something blocking the letter from sitting comfortably. Looking inside, I grinned before pulling out a picture. It was a very jovial (and tired) looking Alice in a hospital bed with my mother beside her. They were both smiling at the camera and in my sisters arms was a bundle of blue blankets. A tiny head, with wild dark hair already, was peaking out. This was the first time I had ever seen my nephew. Looking at him in this, I knew he was going to look just like Alice.

But now Jasper had to know. Jazz was sitting with Moony at the window, staring out with a dreamy look on his face. It was time to tell him that he had a son. I pulled myself to my feet, stuffing my letter in my pocket before going over to the two men. Jasper looked up as I held out the letter to him. "It's from Alice," I said. I hadn't even finished before he snatched it from my hand and ripped it open. Grinning to myself, I went back to my corner as Jazz read it over.

As soon as I sat down there was a cry of joy I had never heard come from him before. "She did it!" he laughed, clutching the letter. "It's a boy!" He couldn't stop laughing and smiling. Moony grinned and slapped him on the back, muttering something that sounded like, "welcome to the club, son."

"Congrats, Jazz Man!" Em crowed from the ladder. "You know I'm totally teaching that kid kick boxing!"

We all laughed and Jasper looked up at me with his eyes shining with tears. Damn. I'd never seen him cry before. But looking at him I knew that having a son was not the only thing he was happy about. He was happy that Alice was okay, and that was what made him worthy to be with my sister. I nodded to him and he grinned back before going to the picture in his hand, showing Mamun eagerly.

I sighed, closing my eyes and leaning my head back against the wall. I had a nephew. That was pretty big. Another member to our family. I was sure my mother would be ecstatic. She still wanted me to have children so she could be a grandmother. Although having a nephew was great I wasn't sure I would be able to be anyone's father. I just wasn't cut out for that stuff. I was too attached to my career and I knew that Jasper was going to quit the SEALs field work soon to be with his family. Maybe he'd get a job at Intel back in the States. That was a steady career and he would always be there with Alice and Masen. I, on the other hand, could not give up the SEALs. All I knew was the military. Of course there was always that want to be a doctor but could I really go back to school after all this time away?

"Edward?"

My eyes snapped open to see Bella timidly staring at me and biting her lip. The lips I had just tasted a few hours ago. I growled at myself. Stop thinking about those things! "Yes?" I asked, a little coldly.

She flinched and visibly swallowed. "Um…can I sit down?" She pointed to the place beside me. I couldn't think of anything else to say and I wanted to try and be a gentleman. I nodded and she slowly dropped herself next to me.

We were silent for a moment before she spoke again. "I want to apologize for the way I acted before," she said slowly, staring at the floor. "I didn't let you tell me what actually happened with the Commander. I…didn't think about what you might have been thinking at that point. I had gone into…shock and it was terrifying for me." She finally looked up at me with a determined look in her eyes. "But I want to do this, Edward. I worked so hard to get here and I don't want to go now. I've come so far…" She looked away again but I could see the shining in her eyes. God, she was crying. My chest ached again as she tried to covertly rub the tears from her eyes.

Slowly I moved closer to her, bumping her shoulder playfully with my own. "Come on," I murmured, feeling really out of my element. Comforting crying woman was not exactly my forte. Last night had been enough for me. "If it makes you feel better, I'm a total asshole for even trying to get you out of here."

She laughed, rubbing her eyes once more before looking at me with a small smile. "You're right, Masen," she said. "You really are an asshole."

**x_x_x_x _x_x_x**

**Author's Note:**

**1. **Sorry for the wait on this one! I'm trying to catch the website Twilighted up with . It takes a little longer to get chapter's up on that one. I am also working with a beta for the Twilighted chapters (Andrea). But since I wanted to get this one out on here quickly I kind of by passed beta-ing. This is from my hands officially so if there are any mistakes I'm sorry but I'm not an English major.

**2. **If you are on Twilighted send me some love, huh? I have a topic on their forums set up so it'd be nice if you sent me hugs and kisses. Maybe even post a few Rob pictures? They always keep me going. Like the Robert magazine I have sitting next to me at this very moment. Wow. Those are some sexy pictures. Although I need a permanent marker because there is some Kristen pictures on the cover. Ugh. I might even post a few sneak peaks on the Twilighted forums topic for SEALs…

**3. **So yes, Alice and Jasper now have a baby boy named Masen Edward Whitlock. It's cute, non? Kinda cheesy with the name but I felt like being that way today.

**4. **Hell yeah to the make out scene! I've been waiting to write that part. Ooo it makes me all tingly. :D But hang in there ladies! This story train is soon coming up to the station called climax. Ooo I'm so excited! We are totally going to see Rageward in the future!

_**NOW PRESS THE REVIEW BUTTON DOWN THERE, PRONTO!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**WARNING: The following story contains violence, coarse language and mature subjects. Readers discretion is advised.**_

**Disclaimer: **Roses are red, violets are blue. I don't own Twilight, so please don't sue!

**x_x_x_x _x_x_x**

After such an intimate moment back at the hotel, I was worried that everything would be awkward between Bella and I. When her tears finally dried up, there was a silence between us, and I could only hear the hushed voices of the guys and the sounds of nature surrounding us. I don't know if she felt it but I was a little uncomfortable having her so near. The memories of the passion we shared only a few hours ago was making me uneasy. I had no idea what Bella was thinking. She looked deep in thought as her eyes stared, unblinkingly, at her foot. My heart thumped and I found myself continually swallowing as if there was something stuck in my throat. She was driving me to the brink of insanity with her silence!

"So, what are you?" she suddenly asked me, her gaze never leaving her foot.

I felt a little better that the conversation had resumed, but her question confused my muddled brain.

"That's kind of an open question," I chuckled nervously.

"A city or country boy?" she clarified.

I let out a huge breath of relief and she looked up at me. Her wide brown eyes seared into my own and I felt as if she could see right through me. Like she could see the thoughts that plagued my mind; the dark look in her doe eyes almost made me believe she had seen the inappropriate pictures flashing through my mind.

"Why don't you guess?" I suggested, giving her a shaky smile.

She took a moment, staring at me the whole time. Again, I felt like my skin was transparent.

"City boy," she finally decided.

I blinked at her sure answer. She looked so certain about it with her raised chin and furrowed brows. No blush or insecurity. Was she beginning to feel comfortable around me?

"How'd you know?" I asked.

She shrugged. "It's all in the attitude. I grew up in a small town and you don't seem like that kind of guy. You're more of a…go-go-go type of person." I grinned, laughing and shaking my head. Was I really that obvious? "So what big city?" she continued, eyebrow raised.

"Chicago," I answered. "Born and raised." And it was the truth. Chicago was and always would be home, no matter how long I stayed away.

"Wow," she said with a nod. "Impressive."

I grinned before rounding on her with a curious expression of my own. "So I told you my home town, now what's yours?" I asked.

"You probably don't even know it," she said with a blush, averting her eyes from mine.

"Humour me," I chuckled, trying to catch her eye again.

She sighed in defeat but didn't look at me. "It's called Forks," she said in a monotone voice. "It's like an insignificant little dot on the map a few miles from Seattle."

"You don't sound that happy about living there," I said with a frown. I wondered how someone could hate the place where they grew up. Sure, Chicago had its bad days but I still loved it. The snow was shit sometimes, but there was always a new snow ball fight to create and a warm house to come back to.

"Well it's kind of a Hell hole," she began. "It rains twenty-four seven and it's cloudy and cold. I'm kind of enjoying the heat here." She laughed before sighing, her shoulders slouched again. "It's just so interesting here. I mean...it's dangerous and heart breaking…but the culture! It's just so different from Seattle!"

I was fascinated by her expressions as she spoke. Her eyes lit up and she raised her head to look out the window at the farm in the distance. She used her hands, clutching her chest when she spoke of the culture. This beautiful smile graced her face and she laughed again. God that laugh made my chest ache.

"It's like a rush, you know?" she went on, glancing at me before going back to staring out the window. "Nothing in Seattle could ever compare to this! Just thinking about all those boring stories I could have been given and I got this one!" Her smile widened and she looked at me again. "I worked tooth and nail to be given something as exciting as this assignment. It means everything to me…I guess I just went a little over board with my anger and it shouldn't have been directed at you." She looked at her folded hands, all traces of excitement gone. "After all, without you I'd probably be dead right now."

I swallowed heavily again and ran a hand through my hair. This was going in the wrong direction.

"You already apologized," I chuckled nervously. "We both agreed that I was an asshole. Let's just leave it at that."

She pressed her lips together as if she wanted to say more, but after a moment she nodded and I sighed in relief. Looks like I dodged the bullet, in a figurative way of course.

"So you keep talking about Seattle," I went on. "Do you still live in Forks or is the city your new home?"

"I used to live in Forks," she said, putting emphasis on the 'used to' part. "I didn't want to be stuck there for the rest of my life like my mother…" She trailed off for a moment, but before I could ask her about that little slip, she moved on. "But anyway…I moved to Seattle to go to college for journalism."

"Why journalism?" I asked, actually curious.

She laughed. "Well I always had a passion for books and writing," she admitted. "But you know how difficult it is to be an author in this day in age. So I picked the next best thing. Of course I'm about print not broadcast. I wouldn't be caught dead in front of a camera." She blushed and giggled nervously.

I nodded, taking in all the information she was giving me and storing it away for later use. "So, go on," I said. "You said you moved to Seattle…"

"Yeah," she answered, continuing on with her story. "Well it's pretty expensive to live in a city like that so I had to find a place that was cheap and cheerful. My Dad, Charlie, found out I wanted to move to Seattle and got worried. I mean, he's a police chief of a small town. It's natural for him to worry, right?" She turned to look at me questioningly. Shit. Her father was a cop? Well that didn't bode well for me. He'd probably pull the hand gun on me as soon as he figured out how much I wanted his daughter. Not such a good first impression.

"Yeah, sure," I answered shakily.

"Well," she went on. "He found out that a friend of his lived in Seattle. Carlisle and Esme Cullen had an old house that they were remodeling. It had a student apartment in the basement and was only a few blocks from the college I wanted to attend. He felt satisfied that I would be in safe hands so I went and lived with them, paying less than half of what other students paid for housing." She smiled. "And they were and are really nice people. Esme would always ask if I wanted dinner or breakfast made for me. I would never starve in that house."

I chuckled. "This Esme kind of reminds me of my mother," I said, thinking out loud.

She must have noticed the distant look on my face. "Do you miss home?" she whispered.

I found myself reaching into my pocket and pulling out the picture Alice had sent me. I twisted it around and around, watching my family disappear into a white background and reappear with a happy sister, mother and nephew.

"All the time," I murmured.

I felt rather than heard her move closer to me so she could peak at the picture in my hands. I could almost feel her chin resting on my shoulder and her hand on my arm. But she kept a safe distance while surveying the photo.

"She's beautiful," she said, pointing at the grinning Alice sitting on the bed. _Was it just me or did Bella's voice seem…heartbroken?_

"It's my sister, Alice," I answered.

"Your sister?" she asked in surprise.

I nodded before pointing at my Mom. "And that's my mother, Elizabeth, and my nephew, Masen."

"Your nephew," she whispered. Her eyes met mine for a moment. "It's funny thinking of you having such a normal family," she went on.

"I'm hardly indestructible, Bella," I said with a grin. "I'm made of flesh and blood, just as much as you are." I inhaled deeply and sighed. "I'm sorry if I come off as cold. I'm just always feeling…pressured. It's a hard job…"

"But somebody's got to do it," she said with a smile.

"Hey," I said, chuckling before running a hand through my hair again. "Don't get me wrong, I love my job. I love the people I meet and the places I go but sometimes I just want to…"

"Settle down?"

"Live a life without danger," I corrected with a smirk. "The thing is I don't think I'm cut out to be a settling down man. I'm too curious and flighty for my own good."

"Hasn't your girlfriend ever mentioned settling down?" she asked. Blushing brightly she covered her mouth. "I'm sorry," she said through her fingers. "I shouldn't have asked that."

"Naw," I chuckled. "It's all right." She opened her mouth to apologize again but I just held up my hand. "I can't really have that conversation with a girlfriend when I don't have one."

"You don't?" she asked with wide eyes.

I laughed. "You look surprised," I said. She blushed again and pressed her lips together as I continued. "No, I don't have a girlfriend. It's kind of difficult to keep up a relationship when you're moving all over the world for months at a time."

"Your comrades seem to be able to do it," she contradicted.

"Well I guess I've never found a woman willing to wait for me," I answered with a shrug. "The girls I pick are just as flighty as I am. My sister always says I have a terrible taste in women," I laughed half heartedly.

"So what is your taste in women?" she asked with a frown and a look in her eyes that I couldn't define. "Blond? Tall?"

My laugh was real this time. "You're describing Emmett's taste right now," I chuckled but didn't answer her question, hoping she'd give it up.

"So…" she said after a moment of silence, dragging it out as she waited.

Oh God. She wanted me to actually answer? I sat there, staring at her like a deer in headlights. If I answered her question, I would be describing her: brown hair I wanted to touch, brown eyes I get lost in, full lips I can't wait to taste, pale skin I want to kiss again, perfect body I want to worship for the rest of my fucking life...

"Brunettes," I blurted out. I couldn't help but let my gaze wander down to her lips.

Suddenly the air became tense and uncomfortable. We had come to the topic both of us had wanted to ignore. I could see the look in her eyes that said she had realized this at the same time I had. There was definitely a big, fat ass elephant in the room, one that we wished we could just ignore. Better yet, there was a snarling, man-eating tiger in the room. There was no hiding. It was bound to have come out and now it was time to face it. Would it be a mistake or a path to bigger and better things?

"Edward," she began in a small voice without looking at me. There was a pregnant pause in which I thought about what to say. Only two words really came to my mind at that moment.

"I'm sorry," we both said at the same time. Our heads snapped up to look at one another in surprise.

"Bella, I was the one that did it!" I hissed, my eyes looking over at Jasper and Mamun across the room.

"But I was the one that made you!" she snapped back.

"Bella, don't start -"

"Edward!"

We both looked up quickly to see Mamun waving me over. We had become so intense in our conversation that I hadn't noticed how close we really were. Our sides were touching and my hand was only a few inches from her knee. I gave one last look at Bella before pulling myself up and jogging over to where Jazz and Moony were sitting.

"Take a look," Mamun said, handing me the binoculars he had been using. I felt relieved that he didn't bring up Bella and I. Somehow I knew that I just couldn't take it.

I brought the lenses up to my eyes and stared out into the distance. The sky was an orange colour, a telltale sign that sun down was upon us. One hour more and we'd be surrounded by the night and that wasn't good. Staying out in unknown, enemy territory at night was an advantage to them and a disadvantage for us. We had to move quickly if we were going to search the premises.

But it was just our luck that there was a dirty, red truck driving down the lane towards the farm house. The dogs that had been chasing chickens were now barking wildly at the vehicle as it came down the road. It looked like there were four men in the truck bed and at least three more inside the cab. All seemed to be armed. The vehicle screeched to a halt near the front door and the people in the back leaped off quickly. They jogged up to the front door, pushing it open, and allowing the dogs to follow them eagerly inside.

The boys in front slipped out, slamming their doors and talking to each other as they leisurely strolled up to the front door. They obviously weren't worried about an ambush.

When the door finally closed and the windows lit up with what looked like candle light, I lowered my hands. Everyone had their eyes on me and I felt the pressure to make a decision. Sighing, I handed Moony back his binoculars and turned to face them.

"We have to move in," I said in a whisper. "They might have some kind of information about the blast. If we don't hear anything of importance we can just leave quietly. Agreed?"

They all nodded as Emmett and Newton slipped down the ladder to join us. "All right," I said, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. "Em and Jazz take the back. Make sure you cover all exits." They nodded and moved to collect their things. "Moony, you're with me out front. I need you for translation." I turned to Mike who was nervously fiddling with his shirt. "Newton, you stay here and lay low with Miss. Swan. Call back to base if anything goes wrong." He looked half relieved and half scared as shit. Plus, he wouldn't have to come into the battleground with us. Negative, he'd be alone. I continued to second guess myself. Newton and Bella alone? It made my skin crawl but it had to be done.

I went back to the corner that Bella was now standing in, to get my rifle. She glared at me, but I ignored her, choosing to load my gun instead.

"Lieutenant," she hissed. Huh. I wondered what ever happened to calling me 'Edward'. "I do not appreciate getting left behind again."

"Trust me," I chuckled darkly as I straightened up to look at her. "You don't want to be down there."

She paled when she saw the look I was giving her. At least her mouth was shut. Winking once at her playfully I jogged over to the other guys that were slowly filing out the door. Newton was standing there and I stopped to glare down at him. "Right, Newton," I growled and he stared wide eyed at me. "If anything happens to Miss Swan, and I mean anything, I'll make sure that you'll never be able to procreate." His mouth dropped open in horror. "Got it?" I hissed.

"Yes," his voice came out higher than normal before he cleared his throat. "Yes, sir."

"Good," I said, stepping back from him and glancing over my shoulder once more at Bella. She was sitting in our corner now, cross legged and writing furiously on her notepad. I chuckled before going out to meet Moony in the trees.

We moved forward silently but quickly, our eyes always trained on our target. The air was humid and heavy again. I could feel the sweat dripping down my temples and I rubbed the back of my hand against my forehead as we moved closer again. It was difficult to move quietly when there were twigs and leaves to crunch under our feet but it was our job. We were trained to be able to go in and out without a sound. And that training was coming in handy at this moment as I stepped carefully over each and every twig which held the potential to raise the alarm.

Moony stopped half way, allowing me to over take him and lead us towards the house. I kept to the shadows that the setting sun gave us, moving swiftly towards the two cars that were parked beside the target. Once we reached the small white vehicle, I dropped to my knees and crawled towards the house. I felt Mamun, drop behind me but I didn't check on him until my back was against the wood of the building. He inched closer until he was sitting next me, both of us breathing heavily and sweating profusely.

I felt him hit my shoulder suddenly. He nodded his head towards the white car we had just passed and I looked up at it with confusion. Then my eyes widened in realization. There, on the back window, was a small, black symbol: an X with an eye in the middle, the symbol of the terrorists.

"Fuck," I mouthed. Moony glared at me and my rude words but I ignored him. We were definitely at the right place.

I shoved him and jacked my thumb towards the window that was above us. He rolled his eyes and strained to listen to the words that the men were speaking in their rapid tongue. As Mamun listened, I turned to keep watch around the farm. The cows hadn't even noticed us and continued to graze easily in the setting sun. Everything seemed at peace and there was nothing out of the ordinary. _Right_, I thought. _There were__only seven armed terrorists inside the building we were spying on. Nothing out of the ordinary, my ass. _

As I sat there and kept watch, I couldn't help but let my thoughts drift towards Bella. I still felt antsy about leaving her there with a creep like Newton, but what else could I do? Take her down here with me? That definitely wouldn't be a good idea. She'd have tripped already, the sound of her fall alerting those inside the house that something was wrong.

She might have even gotten shot already. I winced at the thought and Moony looked down at me with concern. I shook my head and he went back to his task.

This was not healthy, especially for me. How could I be so obsessed over one woman in such a short amount of time? One who was clumsy and stubborn…and beautiful and smart and…

My eyes shot up as I noticed movement at the building where Bella was. I almost swore out loud when I saw Newton in the window. Fucking asshole was going to blow our whole cover! I tried to quietly reach for my walkie to dress him down but it was too late. They had noticed him just as I had.

The alarm was raised as one shouted and alerted the others. Chaos erupted as doors opened and running was heard. Moony and I were forced to sneak away from the window and hide behind the cars. Breathing heavily again, I peeked around the side and saw the men running towards the building where Bella was, dogs barking at their heels.

"Fuck!" I hissed. They were going straight for her and she wasn't protected! My heart was so loud that I couldn't hear anything but its frantic rhythm. I didn't even think as I raised my rifle and shot at the first guy in my range. He went down with a cry, alerting the others who turned and ran for cover before the shots rang out in our direction. I ducked and Moony began shouting at me as he raised his own weapon.

"You foolish, adolescent, moronic, idiotic man!" he cried as he skinned one of the terrorists with a bullet.

"Fuck off, Moony!" I shouted back, while firing at one who hadn't found appropriate cover and was crouched behind a narrow rusted barrell. Everything was better now because they were coming after me and she was safe, although now I had to find a way to get the team out of this mess.

I shot off a few bullets, grazing a lot of the men and hitting some, mostly in the calf. The animals had gone crazy around us. The dogs were barking like mad and the cows were running for cover. I felt a little relief when I saw shots coming from the other side of the house. Jazz and Em had joined the fight. Hopefully they had found as good a cover as Moony and I. This little white car was a great shield.

I ducked back down to reload, the adrenaline getting the better of me and making my movements slightly shaky. While I was focusing on my gun, I didn't notice that my arm wasn't hidden very well. _It was in SEAL 101 and I didn't notice it. How dense could I be?_So now that my arm was a perfect target, one of the bastards took a shot and grazed my bicep. I hissed out profanities, dropping my gun and grabbing my wounded arm. I could feel the warm wetness of blood and saw it seeping through my fingers and down my arm.

"My God, Edward!" Mamun cried, dropping down to help me.

"I'm fine," I hissed, squeezing my arm to try and stop the bleeding. It hurt like a bitch but I wasn't about to whine.

"You are most certainly not fine!" he yelled over the gun shots, ripping a piece of his shirt off and reaching forward to wrap it around my bicep. "It could have hit the muscle."

"Naw," I groaned. "It just grazed me." He tied it tightly and I gritted my teeth together. "I'm fine, Moony!"

"No!" he growled. "You are not fucking fine!"

Holy shit! My head snapped up to catch his angry gaze. He just cursed! This shit deserved a segment on CNN or a national day of celebration. We had been working for years to try and get him to say some sort of swear word and he finally did it! The stress must have been finally getting to him, but I didn't have any time to speak as the roar of an engine reached our hiding spot. Was it back up for us or for them? I had no idea if Newton had called back to base but it would take them some time to get here. I was guessing it was the terrorist's backup. My guess was proven correct by the squeal of tires far from where we were. Shots continued to be fired from both sides as they piled into the pick up truck that had zoomed in.

"Take the tires out," I muttered to Moony who had gone back to shooting.

A loud pop and the angry screams of the terrorists alerted me to an order that had been followed through by Mamun, but the tearing sound that followed shortly thereafter told me that it didn't make any difference. They were still getting out of here on three wheels. The metal rim of the popped tire was scratching against the dirt ground and making a horrible noise, which was quickly fading. The targets had escaped…under my watch.

As soon as the truck disappeared it was silent for one tense moment. Then Emmett's booming voice sounded, calling our names frantically. I closed my eyes and rested my back against the car, my head tilted skyward in relief that none of us seemed to be hurt. Well except me, of course. The thudding of my comrade's boots became louder until they were right beside me.

"Holy shit, Ed!" Emmett cried. "What the fuck happened?"

"I got skimmed," I sighed, opening my eyes to see their concerned faces. "It's nothing big."

"Nothing big," Mamun snorted while slinging his gun over his shoulder.

I ignored his sarcastic comment and turned to Jasper. "Were you guys hurt?"

Jazz shook his head. "We're fine. We had a good hiding spot behind a metal shed off to the side of the house. What tipped them off?"

I sighed in frustration. "Newton was fooling around and they caught sight of him. It blew our cover and the bastards were taking off for the barn so I shot at one of them."

I watched as they all looked at one another, almost knowingly. "What?" I barked. "You know, I'm really getting tired of this shit. What's the joke?"

"Drop it, Ed," Emmett sighed with a shake of his head. "We need to get you out of here before you bleed to death." He reached forward, grabbing my good arm and slinging it around his shoulders.

"I can walk!" I spat while trying to escape his iron grasp and show them I was fine. This was ridiculous! They were treating me as if I'd broken my leg or something. I wasn't that weak!

I continued to struggle against Emmett's iron grasp but he didn't let go. "Will you stop whining?" he chuckled as we began to walk through the muddy ground towards the barn. "Man, you remind me of my aunt's old parrot. Always squawking!" The guys chuckled and I pouted, allowing Emmett to drag me forwards without any more words. Trust Emmett to make a joke out of something serious.

We walked quickly towards where Bella and Newton were hiding, and on the way we passed the terrorists hiding spot. I couldn't help but feel terrible when I saw two bodies along with a few dead dogs lying in the dirt. I could see they had only been wounded but, to escape persecution and questioning, they had killed themselves. It was enough to make someone sick. I was glad that we could move away from the horrible sight that would be seared into my brain. They might have been dangerous but they were still people.

As we reached the barn, Newton came running out to meet us. He was pale white in the face and his eyes were wide as he saw Emmett dragging me along. I gave him a death glare and I could feel a growl growing in my chest. "Newton, you fucking dick!" I barked, throwing myself at him. Emmett caught me before I could wrap my fingers around the asshole's scrawny neck. "I'll kill you myself!" I roared.

"Settle down, CO," Em said, but I could hear the beginning of a chuckle in his voice. He thought it was funny that I wanted to ring the bastard's neck. Well he could watch. I wouldn't mind.

"What the hell is going on?" came a female voice. We all turned to see Bella hurrying towards us with a confused expression on her face. She stopped beside a still shocked Newton and my blood boiled.

"Edward was shot," Emmett explained with a grunt as I struggled to go for the bastard that was standing too close to her for my liking.

"What?!" Bella shrieked and it actually made us all jump in surprise.

"It was just a scratch," I hissed, shooting daggers at Em as he shrugged innocently. I nodded to his hold around my stomach and slowly, hesitantly, he let me go and backed away. I still felt like tearing Newton to pieces, but an unusual calm had settled over me and the blood lust had been shoved to the side…for now.

"Oh my God! You're bleeding!" she cried, pointing to my bad arm which was now dyed red with my blood. As I moved my bicep, the cloth Moony had tied around the wound moved as well and scratched against the deep cut. I hissed quietly in pain. I needed some mother fucking drugs!

"You need to get to hospital!" she continued in a frantic voice.

There was a silence before I started to laugh. The guys joined me after a moment (except Newton since he had backed away from our little group) and soon we were all in a fit of laughter. I was almost in tears. I didn't exactly know why I was laughing so hard but my stomach started hurting after a while.

Bella was staring at us with that fire in her eyes again and her arms crossed over her chest. "This is not funny, damn it!" she yelled after we had sobered up.

"Bella," I chuckled while wiping my eyes. "It's just a _scratch_. No biggie. Moony can patch me up later. He's a master with a sewing needle." I heard Mamun laugh behind me and I grinned at an angry Bella.

"A sewing needle!" she gasped. "No! You need a sanitary place!" She quickly came forwards until she was in front of me. "You're hurt, Edward," she said quietly and my heart thrummed at her concerned voice.

I stared into her brown eyes for a moment before inhaling deeply. Her sweet scent was mixed with that of my blood, I thought as I let out the breath.

"I'm fine, Bella," I murmured.

"I can clean the wound and give him a new bandage when we get to the Jeep," Moony called from over my shoulder. "He'll be fine until I can sew him up at the hotel."

She shuddered at his words and I grinned. Bella obviously wasn't used to morbid jokes that included blood and gore. In fact, she almost looked sick. Her face was paler than normal and her brown eyes were large and round as she stared up at me. I felt a little bad for picking on her, but everyone has to have a sense of humour, especially in a place like Tembo Bara. Right?

I suddenly felt terrible that I had made fun of her. Just seeing her shining eyes and her trembling lip made my heart ache. How could I be such a moron? She was fragile, that was obvious, and I had just laughed in her face. _Real smooth, Masen._

I tried to give her an apologetic look but she just pushed past me to stand next to Mamun. Damn it, damn it, damn it! I had hurt her again and I felt like shit. The day had started out as amazing, went to depressing, went back to amazing, and it was now ending in depression again. I was getting dizzy with all of the emotions that were running through my system. At times I felt like I was high after taking a drug, and other times I felt like an addict trying to get clean; I craved it when I couldn't have it. Bella was that drug. She made me feel amazing at times and then suddenly fucked me up. I couldn't ride this roller coaster of emotions for much longer. I was sure I was on the verge of insanity. Well, I thought, if Bella was the drug, then I was the willing addict.

We trudged back to the Jeep with Emmett and Jasper beside me, Newton trailing sulkily after, and Bella whispering away with Mamun at the back. As we walked I could hear snippets of their conversation and it drove me crazy that she wasn't talking with me. Jealousy was obviously making me green and I found myself fighting to keep walking ahead and not to go back to get her myself. The God damn woman was going to be the death of me!

When we reached the Jeep, Emmett and Jasper ran to tug the tarp off with Newton trying to keep up. He was trying to prove himself and I guess this was how he should do it. I leisurely strode towards the driver's door, trying to catch more of Moony and Bella's conversation but they were holding back. Sighing in defeat, I opened the driver's door to start the engine and finally sit down, but just as I pulled the keys out of my pocket, Jasper snatched them out of my hand. I glared at him as he smiled innocently.

"Uh uh," he taunted with a shake of his head. "There is no way you are driving."

"What the fuck, man?" I hissed in annoyance. "I'm completely fine to God damn drive."

Jazz raised his eyebrows but there was no look of defeat in his eyes. "Nope," he said. "You'll be sitting in the back."

"The back?" I moaned. "With Emmett? I'm not going sit there while he -"

"No, no," Jasper interrupted me, a smirk still on his face. "Emmett will be sitting with Newton. You, however, will be seated with Miss Swan." I stared, slack jawed at him as he grinned. "You two need to talk things over." He winked before jumping into the driver's seat.

What the hell did that mean? Did he see us fighting before? Did he know what we were fighting about? Did he know that we had kissed? Did they all know that we had kissed? I began to get paranoid and started believing that they had all been hiding in the room and witnessed the whole…private moment between Bella and I.

"Check it out!" Emmett bellowed and I whipped around to see a cloud of dust coming down the road. My heart sped up. Could it be the terrorists with even more backup? As soon as they came closer, we all recognized the trucks as our own comrades. It was another SEAL team and, as they stopped to talk with us, I figured out they had responded to Newton's distress call. So he did call for help. I guess that helped his case a little but I was still pissed at the little bastard. The team had missed the action and they apologized profusely for making us take the terrorists on alone but I just waved them off. It wasn't their fault they had been stationed far from here. At least they had some Intel members that could search the farm house and look for anything suspicious. I recommended they start with the white car that was now littered with bullet holes, the one with the terrorist's symbol on the rear window.

As soon as the other SEAL team went to work, their CO came forward and assured us that everything would be taken care of. We accepted that and were glad to finally go back to the Port Italia hotel for a hot shower and a warm bed. Moony cleaned my wound quickly, wrapping it in a new bandage and promising to sew it up for me when we got back to the hotel. As I walked back to the Jeep I could feel the drowsiness over taking me. It had been a hard day with many ups and downs and I just wanted to rest. It might have been the physical action I had been through or the emotional roller coaster or maybe even my wound (that was now stinging like crazy due to my sweat) that had made me tired. Thinking about it, I knew I should be tougher. A Navy SEAL should be able to go a couple days without rest but I was completely exhausted.

I didn't even whine when Jasper slipped into the driver's seat with Moony as navigator. There were no protests from me when Emmett shoved Newton into the seats behind Jasper and Moony, leaving the very back seat beside an exhausted Bella empty. I yawned before crawling into the back and dropping into the seat with a sigh of relief. It felt so good to be sitting down on something comfortable. I let my head roll back and my eyes close as Jazz started the Jeep and pulled out on to the road going towards Port Italia.

The rumble of the engine must have lulled me to sleep because I woke up with my head against something soft and warm. I kept my eyes closed, trying to go back to sleep since the engine was still going and I was still tired. My body was leaning to the side against this comfortable object and I'd never felt so at ease, but the best part was the soft scratching against my scalp. I hummed in appreciation and the scratching faltered for a moment before starting again. I could get used to this, I thought with a smile before succumbing to sleep again.

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**Author's Note:**

**1.** My favourite part of this chapter, hands down, is Mamun swearing. I just want to HUG HIM!!! If you don't get the very end here's what's happened: Edward has fallen asleep and while he's been asleep he has unconsciously leaned towards Bella and is now resting his head on her shoulder. She notices, of course, but doesn't make him move. Instead, she runs her fingers through his hair. It makes me giggle. Not so much Rageward in this one but I promise, the next chapter is going to be hella important and it will include Rageward!!!

**2.** So, in honour of my birthday, which is on Tuesday (Nov. 3), I have posted this chapter. Did I post it to make you guys happy? Yes. Did I post it to get you guys to sing me "happy birthday"? …maybe. I'll just sing this anyway: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR FUTURE MRS. PATTINSON! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! **NOW LETS ALL EAT CAKE AND BE HAPPY!!!**

**3.** Hell yeah! I got the Rides Again CD! Wait…YOU DON'T KNOW RIDES AGAIN?!? They're a Canadian band! Gotta support the team! I suggest you look up their music since it has helped me write my boys and their SEAL adventures.

**4.** Yay! This little chapter has been beta-ed by the lovely Andrea. (hugs)

_**NOW PRESS THE REVIEW BUTTON DOWN THERE, PRONTO!**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**WARNING: The following story contains violence, coarse language and mature subjects. Readers discretion is advised.**_

**Disclaimer: **Roses are red, violets are blue. I don't own Twilight, so please don't sue!

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I woke with a start; my eyes open wide and staring up at the hotel room ceiling. My chest heaved as I fought to catch my breath. It was like my lungs weren't working and I coughed for a moment before finally gaining control of my body. I let out the breath that had been stuck in my chest and fell back against the pillows in relief.

Wiping my hand across my face, I sighed and squeezed my eyes shut. The dreams I had had throughout the night were more like nightmares. Although the scenario's changed, it always ended with the same morbid conclusion. Such as the very last dream that I had had. It had been so terrifying that it woke me from a deep sleep.

I was standing in the middle of the desert, no civilization in sight. Only the sun, the endless sky, the red dunes and the soaring vultures kept me company. I felt oddly vulnerable in this barren place, like the ugly birds would fly down and pick the skin from my bones in one swoop. Even though the sun was shining brightly above, I was not sweating or hot at all.

There was a gust of cool breeze that brought some sort of calm over me. I felt comfortable in my jeans and t-shirt. I wasn't even wearing any shoes! I was suddenly completely at ease, even though I was alone and had no idea where I was. How could I feel so relaxed at a time like this?

Suddenly, I heard a soft giggle from behind me. I spun around and gaped at what I saw. Bella was smiling up at me from her place in the sand. She sat cross-legged, with her hands gripping her ankles and rocking back and forth like a child. Her long brown hair was completely perfect, as were the blue pajamas she was wearing. There was not a speck on red sand on her even though she was sitting in mountains of it.

"Bella!" I gasped. "You're alive!" Hadn't she died in that car bomb that had gone off only minutes before I showed up in this desolate place?

She laughed, the sound like bells, before smiling widely at me. As she giggled her hand came up and she crooked a finger at me, beckoning me closer. Of course I couldn't resist and I was hesitantly stepping towards her within seconds. She snickered behind her hand and batted her long eyelashes at me, ending it all with a flirtatious wink. I was hooked already. She was wheeling me in like a fish caught on the end of a line. I just didn't have the power to resist her.

I was halfway to standing in front of her when her sultry looks vanished and her face became blank. I stared with confusion at her wide brown eyes as she looked back at me with that vacant expression. It was almost like she wasn't even looking at me. It was like she was looking through me. I felt afraid and suddenly worried about her mental stability. I pushed myself forward to reach her faster…and that's when she started to scream.

The silence of the desert was filled with her high pitched, blood curdling scream that rang in my ears. The force of her voice had surprised me so much that I fell backwards into the sand. Coughing and spluttering the red dust, I sat up and shook my head to focus again. Her screaming was still going on and it took me a moment to find myself and look up. The sight before me was horrifying.

The ground where she had been sitting had turned into a huge black hole in the sand and was now proceeding to destroy everything in its path. I suddenly realized Bella's screams had turned into pleas for help. I could just see her fingers grabbing frantically at the sand for something to hold on to and the top of her head as she fought to stay above ground.

Jumping to my feet, I raced towards her as fast as my legs could carry me, my heart beating loudly in my ears. But the sand was slowly me down and I was finally breaking out into a sweat as I struggled to reach her. I was only a few feet from her so I was able to get on to my hands and knees to crawl quickly to where she was holding on. "Edward!" she screamed and my heart thumped faster in fright. She continued to repeat my name over and over again until I could reach out and grab her wrist. Her fingers automatically wrapped around my own wrist and I felt her weight pulling at my arm. I bit my lip at the pain that suddenly showed up in my shoulder as she held on for dear life.

I went to move my other arm to grab her but it was stuck. I looked back in a frantic confusion as I tugged at my left arm with my whole body but it was like my hand was glued to the sand. It wouldn't move and I soon realized my knees were stuck as well. Gasping in frustration and fright I yanked with everything I had in me but they still wouldn't move. I was well and truly stuck.

"Edward!" Bella's cries focused me back on my task at hand. She was now holding on to my one hand with only one of hers. I struggled to pull her up but she wouldn't move upwards at all. What the fuck was going on? The sweat poured down from my forehead and I was drenched all of the sudden.

She stared into my eyes with her doe-like gaze and I could see the fright there. "Don't let me go," she whispered in a strangled voice. "Please."

"I won't!" I yelled, gritting my teeth at the searing pain in my arm. I felt her fingers slipping from my wrist and I fought to hold on to her. But she just kept falling. My skin was too slippery with my sweat and she was falling slowly, inch by brutal inch.

"You're slipping," I cried, gripping her hand now. "Hold on, Bella!"

She broke our eye contact to look at the black hole beneath her before looking back at me. I gasped at the dead look in her eyes. It was almost like she was accepting this fate of falling into the nothingness.

"It's all right," she whispered, staring into my eyes. "I trust you, Edward."

Those words hit me hard and I struggled to hold on to her fingers, which were quickly falling out of my grasp. "Bella!" I hissed. "Don't…don't let go! I've got you!"

But I knew that I didn't. I was barely holding her knuckles now and she was being sucked into this black hole. It was inescapable. I knew that, but I kept trying to hold on her. I couldn't give up. I would never give up on her.

"It's all right, Edward," she repeated quietly.

"NO! Bella, don't give up!" I yelled.

But then she slipped out of my grasp and she was falling away from me. I saw the dead look in her brown eyes once more before the blackness engulfed her.

"BELLA!" I screamed in complete horror…and then I woke up.

How could one night bring me so much terror? I had never felt that afraid before, not even when we were outnumbered on our South American mission a few years ago. Surrounded in the Colombian jungle was not really a walk in the park as Emmett now described it as. We'd all been injured in some way but luckily we escaped with our lives after a few clever tricks thought up by Jasper. I still had a burn mark on my calf that told terrifying stories, which included a barely escapable fire that proved luck was truly on our side.

I sighed, stretching my arms over my head before wincing at the pain in my bicep. I'd pulled at the stitches and it hurt like a bitch. I put my arms down and gently ran my fingers along the bandage that covered my stitched wound. Moony had done a great job sewing me up. The guy was literally like my grandmother with a needle.

But he had this little smirk on his face the whole time, from the time I woke up with my head against the car window to when he left me to get some sleep. Come to think of it, there seemed to be a joke I was being left out of for the whole night. I hated this vulnerability and I found myself snapping at Moony easily. But that may have also had to do with the fact that I was dead on my feet and it took time to stitch a wound like mine.

It seemed in the haze of it all they had left me to get some sleep on my own. Sitting up I now wondered where they all were. Judging by the sunlight coming through the window I was sure Emmett was probably down at the buffet by now, Newton tagging along. Moony would be looking after Bella for me and Jazz would be researching about our future locations. Or he might have been trying to call Alice.

I felt the sudden need to hear my sister's voice. She always knew how to cheer me up and missed her high soprano. I really needed someone to tell me everything would be all right and that I would be going home soon. I knew that I was supposed be strong but sometimes even a SEAL needed some comfort. I couldn't help but feel a little jealous that Jasper would be getting that pep talk and I wouldn't.

My head snapped up when the connecting door opened. Bella's head peeked inside and her eyes widened when she saw I was awake. She squeaked in surprise before darting back into the other room, apologizing over and over again.

I let out a breath of relief as soon as I saw her face. She was all right. There was no need to worry about her. Every one of those horrible scenes had just been a dream. Just thinking about them made me shudder.

"Bella!" I called, hoping she would hear me.

Slowly, the door opened again to reveal Bella's red face. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I thought you were still asleep."

I couldn't help but chuckle at her hesitant steps towards the bed. It was odd to see her acting like this. It wasn't like I was naked or something. I was fully clothed and yet she tip-toed around me like I was deer that would be frightened off at anytime. "It's all right," I said. "You didn't wake me."

She nodded, her eyes averted to the floor and her face still a bright red.

There was an awkward silence that came over us as she stared at her feet and I thought up what to say. I wanted to say something, maybe even tell her about my dreams. Would she listen? Could she help me figure out what they meant? Was it even worth telling her about? Maybe she could be the person I could talk to. It felt good telling her about my family the day before. It felt good to get it all out.

But would it be fair to dump all my problems on her? No, I thought immediately. She had enough of her own problems already, not to mention mine might send her into insanity.

"So, what's going on with my team?" I finally asked, leaning back against the headboard and watching her squirm under my stare.

"Well," she began before clearing her throat. "Well, I've been getting a bit more information from your team for my article. Lieutenant Whitlock called his wife, err…your sister, and they talked for a while. He also went to your Commander and reported what happened…speaking of that, are you all right?"

I blinked, surprised at the concern in her voice. It was always surprising to me whenever she seemed to care. I couldn't help my reaction.

"I'm fine," I said, waving my hand before changing the subject. "What did the Commander say?"

She pressed her lips together. "Well, they told me that he gave them a new task to complete. They're actually getting ready to leave soon and - wait. What do you think you're doing?"

As soon as she said that they were leaving I was pushing myself up and ripping the blankets from my body. There was no way I was letting my team go out there without me. My arm was just scratched and I could handle the pain. They needed me so I could suffer for just a little while.

Bella stumbled forward with her arms reaching out to me until she was blocking my way. I had my feet on the floor as she put her hands on my shoulders to keep me sitting on the bed. Even though my heart thumped at her touch I was still annoyed that she was in my way. "You can't go with them!" she cried. "You're hurt!"

"I told you, I'm fine," I said as I reached around her to grab my belt. "Could you hand me my boots?"

"No," she said stubbornly. "I'm not letting you leave."

I pulled myself to my feet, wobbling slightly but thankfully keeping my balance. We were standing so close that our chests touched and I could feel her breath on my chin. I fought with myself not to lean down and capture her lips with mine. The taste of her mouth was still on mine and I would never be able to forget it. My want for her would never cease but at the moment I had to think about my team.

"I have to go," I answered. "They need me."

"They need you to get better," she insisted.

We stood there for a moment, just staring and each other. Her brown eyes didn't leave mine and again I felt like she was looking right through me. "Please, Bella," I murmured. "I can't leave them alone."

There was another moment of silence before she sighed. She shook her head before glaring up at me. "If you go, I go too," Bella said.

I pressed my lips together but there was no way I would able to say no to her now. I hated to have her out in the middle of the danger but the look on her face just broke me. "All right," I said. "You can come but don't do anything crazy."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she said sarcastically with a large smile. I let out a breath of relief when she stepped away from me. There was no way I would have been able to stop myself from touching her any longer. "We'd better hurry though," she went on. "They were packing up the Jeep when I came in here."

I nodded before fastening my belt and making sure everything was in it. Looking up I noticed Bella had come back over to me with my boots in her hands. She was fingering the duc-tape on the side of one of them with a frown on her face.

"What's this?" she asked me.

I took the boots from her, not keeping eye contact when I answered. "My blood type."

**x_x_x_x _x_x_x**

It had taken some time and some persuasion but before long we were all on our way back to Tenga, the village where we had met the soccer-playing children. We were told to return because the terrorists had come back to the little village. The problem was, I had no idea how bad it truly was.

The streets were empty. The stores were closed with not a soul in sight. I felt uneasy right away. There should be people milling about with their afternoon social hour but instead it was deserted. I made sure everyone was behind me, including Bella, as we hesitantly walked down the street. I didn't dare lead them out into the open so we kept close to the run down buildings. At least we had cover if needed.

None of us spoke. This eerie silence was almost smothering me. My thumping heart was one of the only sounds I heard along with our breathing, our quiet footsteps and the small amount of wind blowing down the street. It was almost impossible to stand this silence. Something was definitely up.

I stopped us at the corner of one of the abandoned buildings. The hairs on the back of my neck were prickling and I had a terrible feeling that something horrible was around the corner. Something wicked this way comes, I thought with a grimace before raising my rifle and holding my arm out to make sure Bella was still behind me. Thankfully I could still feel her safe and sound.

Slowly I bent down to the ground and scooped up one of the larger rocks before getting back up again. Rolling it around in my hand for a moment I waited for the right time.

Just then the wind blew from behind me. I took the chance, tossing the rock around the corner and into the open. As soon as it appeared the gun shots sounded. We all cringed back and waited until the bullet's finally ceased. There was a silence with just the dust floating in the wind until laughter was heard. We got them. They believed it was just the wind blowing the rock. But what they didn't know was that they just gave away their positions.

Motioning for everyone to go back, we all retreated to an abandoned building far enough from the shooters so that they couldn't hear us. This would be a safe house for Bella.

As soon as we got into the building I took her forearm and gently tugged her over to the corner. "Okay," I murmured. "This is where you're going to be, all right?"

She opened her mouth to protest but I cut her off. "You saw those gun shots, didn't you?" I asked, staring seriously into her eyes. "I'm not letting you go out there. It's too dangerous. Just…please stay here."

She frowned at me as I pleaded with my eyes. Finally she let out a sigh and shook her head, her eyes on her feet. "You just better stop using that face on me," she muttered before turning to look at me again. Was I supposed to hear that? "Fine. I'll do it."

"Good," I said with a grin. I reached into my pocket and pulled out one of the fancy cell phones given to us. "This," I said, holding it out to her. "Is what you will be using. All our cell numbers are on there and if you ever get into trouble, you call us. Always keep it on." I knew I should have given it to her sooner but I'd hoped Newton would have been able to look after her. Since that wouldn't work, I had to depend on the phone.

"Ooo," she laughed, turning the cell over in her hands. "It's even got one of those tracking devices, am I right?"

"How'd you know?" I chuckled.

She shrugged with a smug grin on her face. "I'm a very observant person."

"Sure," I laughed.

We chuckled together for a moment before I sighed and realized that duty did call. "Okay," I said. "Stay here and don't leave. I think Newton's learned his lesson after last time not to be a complete dumb ass."

"Hey," she said, slapping me playfully on my arm. "Don't be so tough, lieutenant. I'm sure you had a few slip ups."

I shrugged. "Sure, but those were back in training."

She rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine." There was pause before she spoke again. "Just…be careful all right?" I frowned at the concern in her tone. If I was oblivious I wouldn't have noticed the worry in her voice. "I mean…" she stuttered. "I don't want to lose the man I have yet to interview, okay?"

I grinned and nodded. "Gotcha."

So I left before I lost control and kissed her like one of those romantic good-bye moments in the movies. Besides, I had a job to do.

After briefing Mike and threatening him again, Mamun, Jasper, Emmett and I went back to our corner to find I good place to attack. We needed something that came at them from all sides. So after a few moments of planning we were all in our places. I could see Jasper and Emmett across from us and I felt Moony loading his gun behind me. Taking a deep breath, I nodded to Jazz and Em before jumping out from our hiding spot.

The bullets started right away. I ducked and ran towards the cover of a car that had been rolled over and set on fire at some point. Moony showed up beside me as we caught our breaths and moved to take a few shots. There were three men hiding inside one of the buildings and I was sure there was more inside. Making sure none of my appendages could be shot at, I took aim and fired at one. I skimmed his thigh and he howled before limping out of sight. Jazz and Em took one of the others, leaving just one man who refused to leave the safety of the building.

Growling in annoyance I moved to shoot again only to rub my wounded arm against the jagged edge of the burnt car. I hissed at the pain but tried to ignore it. I had to focus on this mission. The wound would come later.

Suddenly there was a honking of a horn and a white van came flying down the street, stopping in front of the building. The smell coming off the van was terrible. Somebody was burning oil. I could see the men jumping in before it took off with our bullets littering the steel sides.

"Mother fucker!" Emmett yelled. "The cowards ditched!"

I myself felt annoyed but at least this ended the mission. Maybe they wouldn't come back to the village and the people could return again. Maybe we gave them safety.

Sighing, I got to my feet as Jazz and Em joined Moony and I. "Well at least that's over and none of us were hurt," Mamun said. "Although I want to look at that wound, Edward."

I rolled my eyes but nodded in compliance. "Fine. But can we just go back now?"

We all took off at a jog towards the safe house. Reaching the building with a grin on my face, I went inside only to stop dead in my tracks. Newton was lying on the ground groaning as he tried to sit up. His face was bloody and his nose definitely looked broken. Someone had beat on him badly. But that wasn't what I noticed first. What I noticed was the absence of Bella.

"Bella!" I yelled running back outside. There was nothing but smashed barrels, tire tracks and the putrid smell of burning oil.

With my heart racing, I ran back inside and over to Newton, kneeling down beside him. He moaned and stared up at me with the one eye that wasn't swollen shut. "Mike, what happened?" I questioned.

All he did was moan and let his head fall again. My anger was taking over as I grabbed his collar and pulled him to sit up. He cried out in pain as I shook him. "Where's Bella?" I asked a little louder.

Another groan was his answer as he coughed up a bit of blood. Gritting my teeth and fisting his collar in my hands I yanked him up right and slammed him against the wall. He shouted out profanities and I could hear the guys calling for me to stop but I couldn't stop. I had to know. "Where the fuck is she?" I yelled.

"Gone," he coughed out.

"Gone?" I asked, pressing him even harder against the wall. "Gone where? What do you mean?"

He took a deep breath and said the three words I would never forget in my life. "They…took her."

**x_x_x_x _x_x_x**

**Author's Note:**

**1. **I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I know haven't posted in a while but please don't be angry with me! I had final projects to do in school including a class play (where I had a three paragrah monologue to memorize and preform in front of over a hundred people) and a English presentation. I've been hella busy, okay? And of course I missed my boys and I had to finish this chapter since I was always feeling guilty about leaving you guys hanging. Please keep in mind, I went so fast trying to get this up that it hasn't been beta-ed. Sorry for the mistakes. AND like OMG! BELLA HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED! LE GASP! I told you I would bring Rageward into it.

**2. **I added a few more songs to the list on my profile including a P!nk song, a cute little love song by Hellogoodbye and one for my Mom. ;) Enjoy.

**3. **I've applied for college! Yay! I'm now applied to a journalism course and I hope I get in. Wish me luck guys! If I do get in and graduate that means I will not only be able to write articles, I'll also have a better understanding of writing all around and it'll hopefully help me become a better writer. I've already started on a series and I think you guys would like.

**4. **ZOMG! Have you all seen the Remember Me trailer? Excuse me while I have a fan girl moment. (squeals) New Moon was pretty good but Remember Me is going to be awesome!!!

_**NOW PRESS THE REVIEW BUTTON DOWN THERE, PRONTO!**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**WARNING: The following story contains violence, coarse language and mature subjects. Readers discretion is advised.**_

**Disclaimer: **Roses are red, violets are blue. I don't own Twilight, so please don't sue!

**x_x_x_x _x_x_x**

_Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out._

I let out another breath, keeping my head down and my fingers laced behind my neck. My back hurt like a bitch since I had been sitting in the same position for what must have been a few hours. But the feel of the blood pooling in my head and my hands pressed against my neck kept me sane. It kept my rage from bubbling to the surface and taking over my body. I was sure that if I didn't have as much control over myself I would have torn this mother fucking office apart.

It seemed that I was back at the beginning. Back in this uncomfortable plastic chair in this sweltering hot office. The SEALs base no longer seemed like a safe haven, it was like a cage instead. A cage with steel bars and no means of escape. And there was no angel here to save me. There was no light in the darkness that my life had become.

I could feel my eyes getting wet with unshed tears and I angrily rubbed them to keep them at bay. There was no way I was going to cry when I could be doing something better to help…Bella. God damn it was so difficult to even think her name. Every time I thought of her I could see her brown eyes staring up at me. And then she would whisper the words that damn near caused my heart to literally break in two. _"You promised."_

Taking in a shuddering breath I tried to swallow the lump that had appeared in my throat. But there was no getting rid of it. Every time I did swallow it just got bigger until I was almost choking on it. Choking on the pain and the guilt. The guilt for letting that dumb fuck look after…her…when I knew I shouldn't have trusted him. I just wanted to beat the shit out of that little speck of dust until you couldn't tell that he was a person at all. He would be a heap of skin and broken bones. My hands clenched together as I thought about driving my knuckles into his disgusting face.

My blood lust disappeared when the door opened. I turned to watch the Commander slowly close the door after himself. He didn't speak or even look at me as he walked around to sit in his desk chair. He kept me waiting while he moved his chair closer to the desk and shuffled his papers. It was like we weren't in a crisis. He was just so God damned calm and it pissed me off.

Just as I was about to open mouth he spoke up. "Very tiring week. Very tiring."

I glared at him but he wasn't looking at me. Figures, he thinks about himself again. "Is there any news," I asked before grudgingly remembering to add, "sir?"

The Commander sighed loudly and rubbed his forehead as if he was very stressed. "No, Edward. There hasn't been anything."

"No ransom? No calls? No tapes? No information at all?" I asked, ringing my hands together.

"No," he said, his voice gruff. He finally looked up at me with his grey eyes. "There has been no word on Isabella as of yet."

"What about hints as to where she is?" I asked.

"No," he said forcefully. "Nothing, Edward. Nothing." He groaned. "She could be in God damned Timbuktu for all we know."

I ran a hand through my already messy hair. It just made it worse but who gave a damn anyway? I leaned forward in my chair until he looked me right in the eyes. "Sir," I said slowly. "I'd like to ask your permission to take one of the Jeeps out and scope out the place where she was taken. Maybe I can find some more -"

"No," he said for the hundredth time. "That's not possible, Masen."

"Well why the hell not?" I growled.

He frowned disapprovingly at me and I closed my mouth grudgingly.

"You can not go back because we've already had teams out there and they've found nothing," he said. "No tracks because the sand has covered them. No hidden information. It's clean."

"But if I just -"

"And," he went on, interrupting me. "I need you and your team here to watch over the presidents arrival. He needs security with him twenty-four-seven now after the last catastrophe." He looked at me as if it were my fault. "You are going to accompany him from the airport to the parliament buildings with no buts."

"What about, Bella?" I cried, my heart thundering in response to her name. He raised a brow at the name I called her. "I mean, Miss. Swan?"

He returned to calmly sorting his papers. "We have done everything possible. We have asked for any witnesses to come forward. We have been open to demands. There is -"

I jumped to my feet angrily, slamming my fist on his desk. "That's not good enough!" I yelled.

The Commander stopped sorting to look up at me in surprise. I kept my place, my chest heaving and my hand throbbing from hitting the desk. Slowly he put his papers down and laced his fingers together. His grey eyes met mine and I could see how serious he was about my outburst. "Masen," he murmured. "If I didn't know any better I would think you have intimate feelings for Miss. Swan. Would I be correct?"

I kept my mouth shut, glaring at him. I knew that I couldn't agree to that even though it was true. If I did then there was no way I would be able to go after Bella or ever find her again.

Instead I looked away. "No, sir," I muttered.

"Good," he said, returning to his sorting. "So you'll do you job, will you?"

I grinded my teeth together. "Yes, sir."

"Splendid," he said. "You are free to go. Get some sleep, soldier and be back here in two hours."

"Yes, sir," I snarled under my breath. He waved me towards the door and I left, using all my control not to slam it after me.

Mother fucker. Cock sucker. Jack ass. Dick head. Biggest piece of mother fucking shit! That's what he was. I wanted to run back in there and strangle the bastard. I wanted to slam his head against that fancy desk of his and watch him bleed. If I could just squeeze the answers I needed out of him. Then he would end up just like Newton. It was actually a wonder that he didn't pin me for assault against the moron.

I felt like a raging bull who has seen red as I walked down the hallway. The receptionist didn't even smile at me as I stalked by. Apparently I gave off a dangerously angry vibe and everyone was staying out of my way.

I finally ended up in the parking lot beside our jeep.

The sky was black like velvet as I stared upwards to the heavens. I wasn't much of a praying man but if He could keep her safe then I would at least try. Closing my eyes I let my head fall along with my hopes before walking closer to the stone walls that surrounded the SEALs compound.

As I stared at the stones of the wall and felt the warmth of the yellow street light above my head, I felt myself fall apart. I let out a choked sob and felt the warm tears slide down my cheeks. The rage took over my body for a moment and before I could say no I slapped my palms against the rough brick. I felt my skin break as I continued to hit my palms against the stone, just letting out my anger and frustration. Before long my hands were bloody but I didn't feel the pain. Seeing the red against my skin made me even more hopeless.

I let myself fall to the ground and sit against the brick wall, just staring at my hands. My cheeks were wet and my chest felt heavy as I let out another sob.

"Jesus, Masen," came a voice. I looked up to see a sympathetic Angela standing in front of me. Quickly, I rubbed my wrist against my eyes, but it was too late. She had seen me crying. Instead, to keep my last shred of dignity, I looked down at my bloody hands.

"And here I thought you were beating someone up," she murmured with a small chuckle. "Good I brought this huh?"

She put a first aid kit down on the pavement before sliding down to sit beside me. I didn't answer as she opened the kit and began rummaging through it. "I'm no doctor," she said. "But I do know how to clean up a few cuts." She paused to look at my mangled hands. "Well, more than a few."

She pulled out a bottle of water, snapping the cap off. "Okay," she said to me. "I need to see your hands." I didn't move and she sighed. "You're _hands_, Masen," she snapped.

Slowly I lifted them so she could see. She let out a low whistle before gently squirting water to wash the blood away. I hissed but she ignored me and continued to clean the cuts.

"You're in some rage, huh?" she asked me while she got out some clean cloth to wipe the rest of the blood and water away. There was a silence between us as she cleaned my hands. "Fine," she said. "Don't answer me. I'll just sit here and talk your ear off."

She reached into the kit again, bringing out some antibiotic before yanking my hands forward and rubbing the ointment. "Ow," I muttered and she snorted in response.

"And you call yourself a soldier," she said.

"Well if you haven't noticed I am in a bit of pain," I muttered. "In two ways."

She gasped dramatically. "And he speaks!"

I just kept my mouth shut. I shouldn't have said anything. There was no way I wanted sympathy. The look on her face when she found me was enough.

Angela sighed as she bandaged my hands, wrapping the material around to cover my palms. She made sure both bandages would hold before cleaning up the supplies. I watched her move everything back into the kit, feeling a little better as she sat beside me. Angela had this kind of calming vibe when some kind of catastrophe happened. She was always calm but sometimes her sarcastic side won over the rest of her personality. Even though it annoyed me it did make things seem normal. Or as normal as they could be when my Bella was kidnapped.

Angela leaned her back against the wall next to me. We sat there in total silence for a moment before she began to speak. "I know how you feel, Edward," she finally muttered.

I grunted in response, not believing her. She had no idea how I felt. The rage and pain inside me was close to ripping my body apart. I was sure to go insane if we didn't find her. The guilt was already eating at me. I had let this happen. I should have stayed with her. Protected her. Like I promised.

"No really," she went on. "I do." She paused, looking up at the sky. "Can I tell you a story I haven't told most people?" I didn't answer but I was curious. She took my silence as a yes. "My sister was kidnapped."

The shock must have been shown on my face as she chuckled humorlessly. "Oh yeah," she muttered. "Caitlin was a wild fire."

"Was?" I asked softly, watching her eyes shine with tears.

She looked over at me. "_They_ changed her," she whispered hoarsely. "The monsters who took her. She was only ten years old. Ten years old!" Angela took a moment to compose herself, breathing deeply and rubbing her eyes. This was a side of her I'd never seen. "We were playing in the park near our old house. I was the big sister, the one who is supposed to look after her…I wasn't looking. One minute she was on the swings and the next she was gone."

She covered her mouth. I could see her reliving the moment in her head. "I didn't even hear her screaming. She was just…gone."

Angela inhaled deeply, taking a moment before she felt composed. "I felt helpless for those few days that she was missing. Not only that but the guilt was indescribable. My parents kept telling me it wasn't my fault but I couldn't stop from hating myself."

I let her control herself again before speaking in a whisper. "Did you find her?"

She nodded with a small laugh. "Yeah. Found her a few days after she was taken. The neighbors heard some screaming coming from the basement of one of the houses and it was her. Her captors, who were actually friends of our family, were put in jail for life but…she was never the same. Even now, she is so reserved and just plain scared of everything…especially men. It took me months to get her to warm up to Ben. Even now she's still hesitant around him." She turned to look me right in the eye. "My sister will never be the same because I didn't take the initiative. I sat in my room feeling guilty and hating myself when I could have been looking for her. I knew our neighborhood like the back of my hand but did I search? No."

She put her hand gently on my arm. "Don't make the same mistake I did. Stop wallowing. Get out there and find her. Find her and _bring her home_."

I looked at her for a moment before her words really sank in. She wanted me to go against my orders. She wanted me to go and get my Bella. _So what are you waiting for, Masen?_

Quickly I got to my feet and felt the new power run through me. Fuck the Commander. Fuck the rules. I was going out there and bringing my Bella back. I wouldn't quit until she was safe in my arms. It didn't matter if it took days, weeks even years. I would find her.

"Before you go," Angela said, pushing herself upwards. "Can I have your cell number? You know, just incase you need a rescue." She smirked.

Sighing, I reached into my pocket…to find nothing. Confused, I searched the rest of my pockets and my belt until it suddenly dawned on me. "Bella has it!" I gasped.

Angela looked at me like I was crazy. "She stole your cell?"

"No!" I laughed. "I gave it to her before she was taken! She might still have it." I quickly ran for the Jeep with Angela jogging after me. I almost ripped the door off the hinges in my haste to start up the car. Jumping inside I slammed the door and shifted into drive.

Angela stopped me. "Wait! What about a number, buddy?"

"Just use Jasper's number. You have it right?" I breathed, the adrenaline running through my veins and making my heart thump quickly.

"Well, yeah…" she answered.

"I'm taking his phone to find Bella on the GPS."

"Yeah but -" she started but I cut her off my leaning out the window and kissing her cheek.

"Thanks, Angie," I said.

"Umm…yeah," she stuttered before waving dazedly.

I pulled out of the parking lot and raced through the crowded streets, doing way over the speed limit in places. But I knew that time was of the essence. I had to get to the hotel, grab Jazz's phone and everything else I needed. I was breaking hundreds of rules already but there was no way I was going to guard the president. Bella was far more important to me…and that didn't scare me as much as it used to. Whenever I had these feelings I got freaked out because I had no idea what they really were. But now I realized what they were all pointing to. Love. I loved Bella. Just as much, if not more, as Angela loved Ben. She was my angel, my salvation in this war torn country. Bella was worth more than this job. Bella was worth more than my own God damned life.

I finally reached the hotel and left the Jeep without even locking it. Everyone inside watched me curiously as I ran for the stairs, taking them two at time. It was faster than the elevator. As soon as I reached our floor I took off at a run again. After climbing all those stairs you would think I was tired. But the adrenaline was doing wonders to my body. I had never run so fast in my life, even in training. If my instructors could see me now!

After much fumbling with the doors lock I finally got inside. Jasper, Emmett and Mamun looked up at me from the table they were sitting at. I didn't even acknowledge them, rifling through Jazz's things instead.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Jasper crowed. "That's _my_ shit!"

I ignored him until I finally found his cell. With shaking hands I turned it on and pressed the buttons to find myself at the GPS page. Jazz muttered obscenities under his breath while he put everything I had thrown out back into place. I pressed a few more buttons, clicking on my cell location. A loading bar came up and I waited, walking in circles. Finally, there it was. My cell was on and out in the jungles somewhere. She had managed to keep it on.

"That's my girl," I muttered before stuffing the cell in my pocket.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Em called as I dashed to find all my stuff. "What the hell is up?"

"Is it Bella?" Mamun wondered, hope on his face.

I grinned like an idiot. "I found her," I laughed before going back to fix the buckle of my belt around my hips. "And I'm going to go get her."

"By yourself?" Jazz cried. "That's suicidal!"

"Don't I know it," I muttered before throwing on my camo jacket and hat. Finding nothing else I needed, I headed for the door. Jaspers hand on my shoulder stopped me.

"What the fuck, man?" he asked angrily. "Are you just gonna leave us behind?"

"Well I'm sure as hell not bringing you guys into this," I said, shrugging off his hand. "It will definitely end in a discharge*."

"Does it look like we give a shit?" Em yelled, coming forward.

Moony nodded, somber. "You know we love Bella too, Edward," he said.

"Yeah!" Emmett crowed. "She's like the little sister I never had!"

"And we're your brothers in arms," Jazz said quietly. "Brothers stick together, no matter what danger we face."

I stood there, looking at the determination on each of their faces. Just seeing them looking at me like that it made me realize that there was no way that I could say no and they would follow my order. They were committed. Sighing, I nodded and they quickly ran around to grab their things. Mamun came up to me and smiled sadly.

"I suppose I'll stay here then, shall I?" he asked.

I nodded. "It'd be better, Moony. The president is going to need some kind of security. Could you do that for me?"

"You know I'd be honored, Edward," he said with a grin. "Just bring Bella home or I might have to kick the shit out of you myself."

I chuckled. "Are you finally adding these vulgar words to your vocabulary, Moony?"

He snorted. "Of course not," he said with a smirk. "I would never speak such dirty words."

Laughing, I reached forward to high five him, squeezing his hand. "It's been good," I said.

"And there will be more adventures to come," he said with a grin. "And take better care of your hands, all right?"

I nodded. "You got it, Doc."

Jazz and Em slipped past me. I began to follow them out before turning to see Mamun. "Two hours from now you need to be at the SEALs base. Don't mess this up, soldier."

He mock saluted me. "Good luck, son," I heard him mutter before I shut the door and jogged down the hall to catch up to the other guys.

* * *

We pulled up outside a concrete wall, which surrounded a compound. It looked taller than seven feet but I was sure I could reach it if I jumped. The walls in training had been higher. But then again, we knew what was on the other side in training. Here in the real world we really had no idea what awaited us.

Jasper checked his cell again to make sure we really were in the right place before joining me.

"She's in here all right," he muttered. "Apparently we're right on top of her."

Emmett opened his mouth to say something but my glare made him shut up. This was no time for 'that's what he/she said' jokes.

"So what's the plan?" Jazz asked me.

I sighed, rubbing under my chin in thought for a moment. We were going over a wall and into unknown territory. This was one place none of the SEALs came to. Or any of the military for that matter. This was enemy territory, highly dangerous. Who knew how many guys were on the other side, just waiting for us to show up? And there was no way I was letting Em and Jazz die. They had families to go back to. No, I had to think smart.

"Right," I said. "Give me a minute to scope it out."

Without another word I jumped and grabbed on to the top of the wall before pulling myself up high enough to see over. The compound was actually huge and everything looked quite new, even the wall I was holding on to looked and felt like it has just been poured concrete recently. There was no grass inside, just bright yellow dirt. There weren't even trees, a strong contrast to the jungle that surrounded them. In total there was three semi-circled buildings attached to one another. It almost looked like a scene out of _Star Wars_. The only difference was we were in the middle of an African jungle with insurgents walking around, guns slung over their shoulders. Lets see Luke make his way out of this one!

I let myself fall back down behind the wall with a huff as my boots hit the ground. "They got this place covered," I chuckled humorlessly, taking off my camo and throwing it into the jeep. "Three buildings, I'm guessing Bella is in the middle one. It's got the most guard."

"So, how do we get there?" Jazz asked.

"A hell of a lot of stealth," I sighed. "There's a few objects lying around for cover but nothing really big. So lets all pray for speed and invisibility."

Jazz shook his head, pulling out his rifle from the jeep. We got suited and loaded up (including a small earpiece to communicate) before taking turns going over the wall. I went first, pulling myself up so I could sit on the top before leaping down behind the old pickup truck that sat against the wall. There was a pause as I checked if it was clear for Jazz and Em. When the men's backs were turned and let out a low bird like whistle.

Agonizing seconds later Jazz dropped down beside me. After he was down Emmett showed up and we all crouched behind the truck in complete stealth mode. Too bad we didn't have to time to paint our faces.

I kept us to the shadows, leading my group across the yard towards the buildings before crouching behind the empty crates left out in the sun. Mentioning the sun, I finally felt the burning heat of it on my back. It was only a few minutes after sunrise but the sky was almost a bright blue. No clouds meant good luck, right?

"Distraction," Jazz muttered to me.

"What?" I hissed.

"Em and I around the back," he whispered. "You slip past the ones that stay. We'll take of the rest."

"Are you crazy?" I hissed. "I'm not using you as a distraction."

Jazz patted me on the shoulder. "Go get your woman, Ed," he said. "We'll meet up soon." And without another word, he and Em snuck around the back. I growled to myself, waiting for the time to sneak up on the guys standing by the open door. All five of them seemed to be arguing about something although I couldn't understand a word they were saying.

Suddenly a loud pop and fizzing sound was heard behind the far building. They all seemed to notice it, shouting at one another before three of them went to investigate. As soon as they were around the corner I snuck forward, keeping to the shadows of the building, before standing up behind one of the men. He hadn't noticed me and that was a plus.

I felt a little bad as I hit him over the head with my rifle so that he fell unconscious. But he was helping to keep my Bella captive. The second man turned to raise the alarm but I managed to slug him in the face with my fist. He did a sort of twirl before falling to the ground.

"Mother fucker," I hissed, waving my hand, which was beginning to hurt like a bitch again. But I knew I had a job to do.

Quickly I turned and snuck inside the building, following the hallway. It was a bleak grey with spooky flickering lights and a feeling that made the hair raise on the back of my neck. People had died here, I could feel it. I could almost hear their screams echoing down the hall. But that would not be my Bella. I would make sure of that. And if they had done anything to her, I would make each and every one of them pay.

Cautiously, I made my way down the hall. My rifle was always at the ready and my steps were silent. A lethal combination. I passed many doors that all looked the same but each one gave me no feeling. My emotions kept telling me to go forward, Bella is not in there. For once I trusted them and followed whatever my feelings told me. Lets hope I don't get screwed over again.

I came to the back of the structure. More rooms were in front of me and another hallway leading to the other buildings. Frowning, I turned right and immediately the feeling hit me. She was here. I could almost smell her freesia-like scent and feel her thumping heart. The room just in front of me was much like the rest except that behind that door was my angel. The one I would die for.

There was a male voice shouting loudly inside, his accent tangible as he spoke in English. "What are the American plans?"

"I don't know!" My heart stopped and clenched painfully as I heard her voice. She sounded so tired. It was almost like she was about to cry.

There was a loud smack along with Bella's cry. I gritted my teeth together. Mother fucker just hit my Bella. _My Bella. _The click of my rifle's safety coming off was loud in the empty hallway. I'd blow the fucker's head off.

The sound of footsteps made me turn around, gun raised only to find Em and Jazz catching up to me. They were out of breath as they stopped but they looked triumphant. I nodded towards the door and their faces turned somber immediately. Jasper stuck his hand into his belt and pulled out a smoke grenade. I grinned and nodded. Exactly what we needed. If Em kicked down the door and Jazz threw that in they'd be confused, blind and almost unable to breathe. We had the masks of course so it'd be no problem to get in there and out with Bella in seconds.

Quickly, we all pulled on our gas masks, sealing them tight. Emmett took position at the door and Jasper was ready. After a few seconds I nodded for them to do it.

Em jumped back and smashed the door open with all his strength. Fast as ever, Jazz tossed the ready grenade inside and waited for it to work. It did and the smoke filled the room as coughing and spluttering was heard.

"Go, go, go!" I yelled, diving inside first. Although it was difficult to see inside I could sense where she was. Before long I hit a table and reaching out I was able to touch her soft skin. I leaped over the tabletop to crouch beside where she was sitting, tied to the chair. Pulling the blade out of my boot I cut the rope until her fragile wrists were free. She started to fall sideways, weak and almost unconscious but I managed to catch her.

"Edward…" she mumbled.

"I got you," I murmured, pulling her into my arms.

I stood, making sure I had a good grip on her before navigating my way back to the door. I called for Jazz and he came, leading the way out with Emmett right behind me. We took off at a run down the hallway before ending up outside in the sunshine. I reached up and pulled the mask off, breathing the fresh air deeply before looking down at the limp body in my arms. Out here I could see the damage done to her. There were bruises and cuts all over her face but her chest still rose and fell. She was alive.

"CO!" Emmett yelled, bringing me back to my senses.

I looked up to see a horrible sight. There were more men coming from everywhere. Damn, I should have thought about more men! They were blocking our way back to the jeep. We were trapped! God damn it! I was supposed to protect my brothers, not kill them!

Just as I was about to give up there was a loud roar of an engine. Was that a helicopter?

"Morning boys," came a female voice in our earpieces. "Good to see you guys are alive and well."

The wind picked up around us as a military helicopter came up from behind the trees and roared over top of us.

"Angela!" I laughed, recognizing the voice.

The chopper turned quickly, rotating until it faced us before coming down to land a few feet ahead. The other men scattered as Angela brought the helicopter to a landing. The back door slid open. "Need a lift?" her voice chuckled in my ear.

Jazz, Em and I ran towards the chopper. I could hear the men behind us; no doubt they'd realize they could use their guns soon. Emmett jumped in first, holding his arms out for Bella. I handed her to him before pulling myself inside to sit beside her. Jasper leaped up, attaching himself to the chopper before raising his gun to shoot at the men running towards us. Reaching over I grabbed the headgear and put them over my ears before holding Bella close to my chest.

"Let's blow a hole in the sky, woman!" Emmett shouted.

Angela chuckled before the chopper lifted off the ground. The shots were heard as we got higher and higher until we were out of range and safe at last. As soon as we were at a safe distance, Jasper pulled his legs inside and slammed the door shut.

"That jeep is totaled," Jazz shouted over the sound of the helicopter.

I didn't care about that. All I cared about was the precious package that we had rescued. Bella was still unconscious in my arms, her face pressed against my chest and my hands covering her ears. She was shaking lightly, but she was alive. Gently I pressed a kiss to her forehead, so happy to have her with me that I could cry.

"Next stop will be Port Italia hospital, ladies," Angela chuckled from the pilot seat.

Emmett laughed from the co-pilot chair. "Angie, you sneaky son of a bitch."

"Aww," she cooed. "So nice to see you treat me like a lady, Em."

We all laughed. The pressure on my chest had been lifted. Bella was safe and she was going to be all right. I crushed her small body to mine, inhaling her sweet freesia scent and feeling the warmth of her skin. But she also smelled of smoke and the bitter scent of blood. I wasn't so worried about the scars on the outside as I was on the scars no one could see. She had been through torture and no one came back from that experience 'fine'. We had gone through what it would be like to be tortured in training. With a black bag over our heads, guns pressed to our temples and foreign words being thrown at us, it was pretty terrifying. But Bella, my Bella, had gone through the real thing. Dear God I hoped we had got there in time to save her sanity.

It was a shorter ride back to the city by chopper but it still felt like days to me. Bella's shaking got worse and she started to mumble things under her breath that I couldn't hear over the roar of the helicopter. I just crushed her body to mine, my cheek pressed against her hair as I whispered soothing words. Or what I hoped was soothing words.

"Hospital in sight," Angela said before she reached up to fiddle with her radio transmission. As soon as she got it to the right channel she started to speak in a very business like manner. "P.I. Medi, this is US Helo Niner-Niner requesting permission to land. Passenger in need of immediate medical attention, over."

We all held out breaths as static filled the airwaves for a few tense moments. I could see the hospital coming towards us fast, the helo pad empty.

Finally a male voice came through. "US Helo Niner-Niner this is P.I. Medi. Permission granted. Medical team will be on stand by, over."

I sighed in relief. "Copy that," Angela replied. "Coming in for landing."

She leaned forward flicking buttons on and off, all the while controlling the chopper. Angela flew over the hospital before turning us around for landing on the roof. As we slowly descended on to the helo pad a team of doctors came up on to the roof with a stretcher between them. I sighed in relief as soon as the chopper landed and the medical team came racing towards, the wind of the helicopter making it a slightly difficult task.

Jasper opened the door, meeting the doctors. "Greetings!" one of them yelled. "We hear theres passenger in need of attention?"

Emmett jumped out with Jasper before I slid forward to gently hand Bella to them. Em took her easily into his arms, placing her on the stretcher. The friendly doctor immediately began to check her over, yelling at his assistants who crowded around him.

I turned quickly to see Angela watching from the pilot seat. She was chewing gum idly with her sunglasses hiding her eyes. I smiled thankfully at her and she nodded in return, waving for me to follow Bella. Quickly I jumped out of the chopper and ran after the team of doctors along with Jazz and Em. I could hear the helicopter taking off again but I didn't look back. Bella needed me now and I would always go to her.

**x_x_x_x _x_x_x**

**Slang:**

Blood typed tape - **(FORGOT TO MENTION THIS ONE LAST CHAPTER!!!)** Edward was wearing his blood type on his boot so if he was ever unconscious the medics would know his blood type.

Timbuktu - an African city that most people have always thought was mythical. I don't mean the real place. Its just a figure of speech in my story.

Discharge - A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. In this case, Edward means getting fired for not following the rules.

**Author's Note:**

**1. I'm sorry for some mistakes but this chapter hasn't been beta-ed! **Reason why I have been away for a while: school. I had end of the semester projects in almost every class. But I just finished my English exam and I can now move on to my new classes including another history class. More historical fan fiction…?

**2. **I went to Las Vegas not so long ago. No wonder they call it Sin City. Lol Saw The Phantom of the Opera and loved it. A really fun trip but a one time thing for me. I'd rather go to Florida.

**3. **Ever seen Avatar? (OMG AWESOMENESS! MY NEW OBSESSION! Maybe Avatar fan fiction in the future?) Seen the helicopter pilot? That's how I picture Angela! DAMN YOU JAMES CAMERON! YOU STOLE MY IDEA!!! Lol And I'm sorry if I got all the helicopter mumbo jumbo messed up but I've never actually been in a helicopter so I'm taking this stuff from movies.

**4. **I also have a new book to recommend. _Hush, Hush _by Becca Fitzpatrick. A story about a fallen angel. Actually really good. And a movie to recommend: _The Hurt Locker._ About the bomb squad in Iraq. Really good movie but very sad. Actually got me back in the mood to write about my boys.

**5. **More songs to rock out to on my profile. Next chapter will probably be the last for my boys. I know, sad isn't it? BUT I do have lots of other ideas for stories so help me decide: Cowboy Edward or Undercover Edward? Ooo, the mystery of it all!

_**NOW PRESS THE REVIEW BUTTON DOWN THERE, PRONTO!**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**WARNING: The following story contains violence, coarse language and mature subjects. Readers discretion is advised.**_

**Disclaimer: **Roses are red, violets are blue. I don't own Twilight, so please don't sue!

**GO TO MY PROFILE AND VOTE FOR WHAT STORY I SHOULD WRITE NEXT!!!**

**x_x_x_x _x_x_x**

The California sun was hot against the back of my neck as I stepped out of the black car that had picked me up from the airport. I looked up at the building in front of me, three stories tall but unable to give me shade. Of course I had felt worse heat in Africa and South America but there was another reason why I was sweating and hot.

Commander Highland had called me to the Coronado Naval Base a few days after my team had come home. I was hesitant to leave Chicago, especially since Bella was still in the hospital, but after thinking about Jasper and Emmett's futures I decided I had to go alone.

Just thinking about my teammates made me remember our time in Tembo Bara. After Bella had been taken over by the doctors I called Mamun to check in on the real mission. I was surprised to learn that the president's plane had been delayed for a few hours due to weather and everyone was still waiting at the airport. Moony told us he wouldn't get into the country until an hour later. I couldn't believe our luck! My luck! We could still make it to the airport and report for duty. No harm, no foul.

We got a pick up from another trusted SEAL member. He promised to keep his mouth shut if we filled him in on our "adventure" as he called it. Mamun had definitely spilled. To how many people I didn't know, but I was happy as long as it never got out to the higher officials. If someone blabbed then we'd be fucked.

My team arrived on the airstrip and met up with Moony who begged for details on our mission and the well being of Bella. I hated leaving her behind but I had to come if I wanted anymore time with her in the future and I had a hell of a lot of plans for us.

The presidents landing went as planned and he was safely delivered to the parliament buildings. As soon as the motherfucker was inside the building I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders. This meant that we could finally go home. We'd done our time and our duty in Tembo Bara. If we were lucky, we could be on the next flight back to the States without any talks with the Commander. After we left the next troop would take our place for a few months until we'd be called out again. But that wasn't going to be me. I knew then that I would ask for a stateside job. I'd go to medical school and take care of Bella. There was no way I would leave her after all we'd been through.

But here I was in Coronado without her beside me. She was still on bed rest in the Chicago hospital. She had been stuck in that bed ever since they had flown her over from Tembo Bara, which had been days ago. I wouldn't say I was angry but I would admit I was a little frustrated.

Bella was just so fragile. She had bruises almost all over her body, which were healing well, but it was the internal bruises that were the worst. I'd sit in her hospital room, just watching her sleep, when she'd suddenly start to shake violently and cry out for help. Every time I soothed her into slumber again I would feel that pang of guilt and uselessness. I could do nothing to make it go away. She would always be scarred.

So not only was I frustrated about my inability to heal Bella but I was also frustrated about getting close to her. I was a fucking man for Gods sake! Having been through so much trauma in Africa, I'd hoped that coming home would heal her but that was too fantastical. This was reality and I knew that I'd be getting nothing but soft kisses and touches until she healed. Was it wrong to hope for a speedy recovery so we could become intimate? Yes. But I felt it anyway and my testosterone filled body agreed with my need for female flesh.

I stepped inside the building, yanking off my sunglasses and pocketing them before taking in my surroundings. I knew this place well. After all, I'd trained here years ago. The whole lobby area looked the same with the modern deco and the visitors milling around. The part of the base I knew the best was the training areas. With the sandy beaches just off our living quarters, I always remembered waking up to the sound of the waves…and our instructors yelling right in our ears. _"Wake up you dirty sacks of shit! Get your fat asses out of those beds!" _Ah, the good old days.

There was a large map on the far wall and after checking it over I found out where I was headed. Taking the hall to the left, I followed a few people down and to the right until I came to a few office doors. Each had a nametag of a Commander on them and it wasn't long until I found Highland's. Swallowing, I summoned up my courage and knocked.

"Come in," his gruff voice shouted.

I opened the door, sticking my head inside to see him surrounded by paper work. He looked up, his studious expression turning into a full out glare. "Masen," he barked. "Sit down."

I jumped inside, closing the door before sliding into the chair across from him. He continued to stare at me, the rage evident in his eyes. Oh God. I'd done it this time.

"Thought you could get away with it, huh?" he questioned.

I swallowed. "Away with what, sir?"

Highland grunted. "Don't act all innocent, Masen," he snapped, pointing an accusing finger at me. "I know what you did that day when you were supposed to be protecting the president. Do you understand what this could turn into? For you and your team mates?"

My eyes went to the ground. "Sir, this is all on me. I should be the one who is punished."

He snorted. "Very noble." Highland lifted a piece of paper on his desk to read from it. "This could go to a court martial. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice you could be charged with absence without leave. Insubordination and willful disobedience to your commanding officer and ending it all with robbery, damage and destruction of military property." He whistled lowly and clucked his tongue. "Quite a list. You should probably find a JAG* before they throw you right into Leavenworth."

The shiver that went through my body must have been evident because he laughed. Leavenworth was a military prison in Kansas. Not some place I wanted to end up in.

"You look a little worried there, Masen," he said with a grin. I knew he was having fun torturing me. "You want to go to prison?"

"No, sir," I mumbled. All that courage I had entered the room with was gone. He'd had broken me down.

Highland stared at me for a long moment before he sighed and tossed his papers aside. He slowly rubbed his temples before looking up at me again.

"With these papers I could send you to Leavenworth," he sighed. "But…you are a good solider, Masen. One of the best I've met, I'd say. You have great leadership skills and are very brave." He groaned. "And you did do the mission…even if it took you longer to get there than others."

"I am sorry, sir," I said truthfully.

He frowned. "You're not even giving excuses…" he said, almost sounding amazed. I kept my mouth shut. Leaning back in his chair he rubbed his face, looking tired. "I've decided to not go ahead with the charges."

I looked up at him, shocked. He wasn't pressing the charges against me? "What?" I asked in complete surprise, sounding like an idiot in the process.

He chuckled humorlessly. "Don't think you're getting away that easily," he said. "I am charging you for destruction of military property. You'll be given a hefty fine but that's it."

All I could do was stare at him in shock. I never thought he'd be this kind to me. I should have been given a court martial and put in jail for everything I had done but he was letting me go. Was he not the bad guy I had painted him as? Had I got him all wrong? My eyes strayed to the picture frames that littered his desk. In each was Highland and his family, and he was smiling in every one of them. Like the picture on the edge of his desk, which revealed not a commander but a father. Two little girls, with their hair in pigtails and their two front teeth missing, were holding on to him and grinning widely. In another photo was Highland and what must be his wife. I now noticed how decorated this office was with family pictures. I even noticed the ring on his finger. He wasn't just Commander Highland, he was an actual person.

As I looked up into his grey eyes I felt a large amount of respect for this man. He was once just like me and it wasn't his fault that he was as strict as he was. It was only his job.

I grinned before reaching forward to grab his hand and shake it. "Thank you, sir!" I said to his surprised face. "You don't understand how much this means to me!"

"Yes," he said, pulling his hand away and clearing his throat. "I suppose not."

"But, sir," I went on. "I was wondering if I could ask you for something."

He raised a brow. "Go on."

"Well…I was hoping to stay stateside and go to medical school, sir," I said slowly, letting him digest what I was saying.

He frowned. "I was hoping to send you to Iraq soon, Masen. We need a new Lieutenant there," he said.

My face and hopes fell, my shoulders sagging in defeat. "Yes, sir," I muttered, sitting back down again.

"But," he went on and I perked up. "I suppose we could use Lt. Simmons instead…he's been a cocky little bastard on base." Highland smirked up at me. "Looks like we won't need you for a while, Masen."

I grinned, getting to my feet to shake his hand again. "Thank you, sir! I can't thank you enough!"

"Yeah, well you better damn well pass this medical school," he chuckled, getting up and shaking my hand more firmly.

"Of course, sir!"

"Well then you're dismissed, solider," he said gruffly.

I nodded and headed for the door. I stopped in the doorway to turn back to him. "Oh and sir?" he looked up. "Merry Christmas."

He smiled, almost like a real human being. "Merry Christmas, Masen."

**(I SUGGEST YOU FIND A CHRISTMAS CD TO PLAY WHILE READING THIS PART!)**

_Christmas Eve, Chicago_

_Three weeks later._

The snow fell lightly against the windshield as I pulled on to the street I remembered so well. Everything was covered in the white stuff and you could hear the car wheels groaning as I maneuvered the car down the snowy road. The trees were bare of leaves but most were decorated with bright, colourful lights. Christmas spirit was something my childhood street always fought over. There was always one house that had the best decorations and each year the families would buy more to be the best house on the street.

I could still remember pulling Alice along the sidewalk in one of the sleds we got for Christmas. She always made me to the one to pull her everywhere. I was a soft son of bitch and gave into everything the pixie asked of me. Well…almost everything.

I turned to look at Bella sitting in the passenger seat, her head against the window as she stared at the houses. This should be a nervewracking time, but I wasn't worried at all. My family would accept Bella as if she were their own daughter. She, however, was a little jittery. Or maybe it was all the drugs she'd been taking.

I finally found my childhood home, halfway down the street, and it looked the exact same. The two story, white house had never changed. Even my old basketball hoop was still hanging over the garage. I pulled into the driveway and parked beside what looked like Jasper's car. I couldn't help but snort in laughter when I thought about Jazz wondering if they should buy a minivan now.

Jumping out of the car, I slammed the door and ran around to the other side to help Bella. She'd opened the door but was a little hesitant getting out. I grinned, taking her hand and helping her to her feet. She wobbled as I shut and locked the doors but I caught her again, laughing.

"Need some help?" I teased.

"Oh ha ha!" she grumbled, clutching my arm for support as we slowly walked towards the walkway. "I hate ice. I just don't want to fall."

I chuckled until we reached the path up to the front porch. I could feel her tensing as we neared the door.

"Edward," she whispered. "What if they don't like me? We should have brought some kind of present…or something."

"Bella," I said. "Calm down. They're going to love you, trust me."

I helped her up the porch steps until we got to same welcome mat I used to rub my boots on. All these memories kept coming back to me and I couldn't help but grin as I reached for the screen door. Holding it open with my boot, I rang the doorbell.

We didn't wait long. The door swung open to show the little woman I knew so well. "Hi, Mum," I said.

A loud scream was followed as she grabbed my shoulders and yanked me downwards for a crushing hug. She may have only been five three, but the woman was like the Hulk when it came to strength. "My baby!" she gushed, pulling back and taking my face in her hands. "Edward Anthony Masen! Have you been eating anything? You're skin and bones! Don't they feed you?"

"For God's sake, Mum, of course they feed me," I snorted, standing up to my full height again.

"Well you have no meat on your bones," she chided. "You're too skinny!" She stopped suddenly and looked wide eyed at Bella who was hiding behind me. I stepped to the side, allowing my mother to see Bella. As soon as she saw the target fully she rushed Bella, grabbing her into a hug. "You're Bella!"

I couldn't help but chuckle as my mother squeezed her. Then I noticed that she was whispering something in Bella's ear. Raising my brow, I was about to ask what they were talking about when my mother pulled away. "Oh!" she cried. "She's very pretty, Edward."

Bella blushed a deep red making me laugh. "Don't I know it," I murmured.

"For Christ sake, Lizzie. Let them inside!" I heard a gruff voice come from inside.

My mother seemed to realize we were still standing on the porch. She rushed Bella inside, talking rapidly to her the whole time. I followed, shutting the door and noticing my father standing beside me. I grinned as he pulled me into a hug.

"Merry Christmas, son," he muttered, pulling away and allowing me to pull off my coat and boots. "Sorry about that. Your mother seems to have gone a little more insane this year."

"I heard that!" she yelped, helping Bella out of her own jacket. "You know you and your son are getting more and more like one another every year!"

My Dad laughed before ruffling my hair, just like he used to do when I was ten. Although he was much taller than me then. Now I was taller than him. "What can I say?" he went on, both of us grinning like fools. "The good looks run in the family."

My mother rolled her eyes, before looking at Bella. "Men," she muttered before flipping her bronze hair over her shoulder. "Everyone is in the sitting room waiting." She kissed Bella on the cheek before sashaying towards the kitchen.

"Very nice to meet you, Bella," my father said, shaking her hand gently before winking at me and following after Mum.

"Well that was something," Bella murmured, a little flustered.

"Sorry," I chuckled. "They're a little weird sometimes."

"No, no," she said with a smile. "I like them. I'm actually noticing how they're like you."

I frowned as we started to walk down the hall. "How so?"

"Well you have your mother's hair and eye colour. Then you have your fathers stature and definitely his personality," she said with a smirk.

I shrugged before taking her hand in mine. "Well my Dad has been called a romantic…"

She laughed and I leaned down to give her a chaste kiss before we continued towards the sitting room, which was where the loud Christmas music was playing and the voices were heard.

On the way we passed the kitchen and I could see my mother racing around to tend to boiling pots and baking foods. My father was leaning against the cupboards, reaching towards the chocolate cake, which was sitting temptingly on the counter beside him. I didn't see it but I did hear the loud slap followed by my father's yelp of pain.

Bella and I finally reached the sitting room, which was located at the back of the house. As we walked through the archway, everything came rushing back to me. The huge Christmas tree in the far corner glittered against the floor to ceiling windows, which looked out into the backyard. My old piano still sat right next to the tree, a little winter village of statues set on top of it. It was my mother's decorations of course. To the right was where everyone was sitting on the two couches and on the floor by the fireplace. The glass coffee table was littered with snack foods like chips, fruits and chocolates as well as a few beers and glasses of soda. And then there was the stereo in the corner that was playing the thousands of Christmas songs my mother owned. "_Oh I wish it could be Christmas everydaaayyyy…!_"

There was a loud squeal before my sister suddenly tackled me. Alice squeezed me tightly, giggling the whole time. She was so short that her head didn't even reach my shoulders as I embraced her. Everyone could already see that Alice was more like our mother than our father and some people even wondered if we were adopted because we were so different. But I loved my sister dearly and I was glad to see her again.

Alice pulled away, her gaze locked on Bella instead. She moved toward her, fingering Bella's hair curiously. "Your hair is so beautiful," she murmured. "Can you imagine how many hairstyles you could do with this hair?" She giggled at Bella's confused expression. "My names Alice. I'm Edward sister. And you are Bella." Alice hugged her tightly before pulling away and taking my hand.

"Edward!" she laughed. "You have to see the baby!"

She yanked me towards the couch where Jasper seemed to be dozing. On floor was a baby carrier and inside was my sleeping nephew. Alice dropped down beside Masen, stroking his little cheek with her fingertip. His eyes blinked open to reveal bright blue irises. "Look, Mase," Alice cooed as I knelt down beside her. "It's your Uncle Eddie."

I groaned. "I swear to God, Alice. If you get this kid to call me Uncle Eddie, I will kill you."

She waved her hand and snorted at my threat. "If you killed me then Mom would kill you. You know, since I am the child who is loved more." She fluttered her eyelashes dramatically.

I laughed. "You wish."

She went back to the baby, pulling the blankets down and taking him out of the carrier. "Okay, Uncle Edward," she said, holding out Masen. "Your turn to hold him."

I quickly shook my head. "I'll drop him," I said.

"You're a Navy SEAL," she snorted. "You were trained to have the reflexes like a cat."

I looked around for some support. Emmett and his girlfriend Rosalie were sitting on the other couch, watching with smirks. Angela was too busy grabbing more food from the coffee table and Jasper was totally out of it. Bella wasn't much help either. She just shrugged when I looked at her for help.

"Take the damn baby, Edward," Alice growled, holding him out.

Slowly I took Masen from her hands, holding him at arm's length. He wasn't very heavy, but I was really worried about dropping him. He had little blue pajamas on with a full head of jet black hair like Alice. But the ice blue eyes were totally Jasper's side.

"For goodness sake, Edward." Alice sighed. "My son is not a puppy. Hold. The. Baby."

She made sure that my arms were right before placing him in the correct position. His head was supported by my left elbow as I held him as gently as I could against my chest. He stared up at me with wide, curious eyes before his pudgy hand came up to rub against my scruffy chin. He gurgled lightly.

"You see?" Alice cooed. "Isn't it easy? I told you that you wouldn't drop him. You can hold him just fine, can't he Jazz?"

We all looked up for Jasper's response but he appeared to be asleep with his head back on the couch and his mouth wide open. Alice grumbled something before elbowing him in the stomach. "Jasper!" she hissed.

He came awake with a start. "Huh?"

Alice suddenly giggled. "Just look at him. The look of him might make people think parenting is hard!" Jasper groaned in response and went back to sleep. Apparently Masen had been keeping him up for a few nights and he had just started his training for the Intel job in New York. The poor guy must have been exhausted. Of course it was no problem for Alice. She was always a ball of energy.

I handed Masen back to Alice who decided to play show and tell with Bella. She pointed out everything she supposedly needed to know about being a mother since Alice was apparently the best mom in the world now. Bella smiled and nodded before looking at me for help. I smirked, shrugging like she did to me earlier. She glared at me, mouthing "I hate you" before smiling at Alice again.

I got up, leaving the girls in peace, before going to sit beside a snoring Jasper and a hungry Angela. The little Christmas plate she was holding on to was chock full of snack foods, which she was hurriedly consuming. "Oh, hey!" she said through a mouthful of food. She swallowed before speaking again. "Heard you got off pretty easily."

I shrugged. "I still have to pay a fine for, you know. Setting one of their jeeps on fire. But I can live with that."

"Lucky," she said.

"What about you?" I asked. "Any luck with the Commander?"

She suddenly brightened, grinning at me. "Yes! I finally got my foot in the door! Apparently the officials heard that I've been trained with a chopper and they want me to start _real_ helicopter training next month!"

"That's great!" I said.

"I know!" she exclaimed. "I'm so excited! Even Ben's proud of me!"

"It's too bad he couldn't be here," I said.

She shrugged. "He's been busy. I think he's still bringing the mail to Alaska so all those kids can get their presents."

I smiled. "What about your wedding?"

"We're doing that in the spring time," she said with a smile. "Getting married in Vancouver and then we're going up to this secluded cabin Ben found a while back. Just the two of us." She sighed dreamily. "It's going to be great."

I chuckled. "Well good luck with that."

"Thanks!" she said before reaching for more food on her plate. She stuffed one of the pastries into her mouth, chewing and making a face. "This stuff is like ambrosia!" she moaned. "What is it?"

I looked down at her plate before grinning. "That would be sausage rolls."

"Mmm," she murmured. "I need more of these. Excuse me." She quickly got up and made a bee line for the kitchen.

As soon as Angela had left, Bella took her place beside me on the couch. She curled her legs under her before leaning against me. I grinned, loving that she was so comfortable around my family and friends already. She was fitting in just fine. Suddenly, my stomach began to jump around. The what if's started to come to my head. What if she said no? Was it too soon? It had to have been at least a month since I had met her. I was going too fast! She was going to say no. God, I suddenly felt sick.

"Ah, I love playing with that kid," Emmett's loud laugh pulled me out of my thoughts. "Every time I pass his desk I kind of…fake jump at him. He squeals like a pig and flinches every time. Then I've started to tell that I'm 'gonna get him'." He laughed loudly again. "He's too scared to go to the officials too. Boy, its fun."

I finally realized Emmett was talking about Newton. The officials had finally decided to take him out of the field and instead gave him a boring desk job. He was in Coronado now. Too bad I had missed him when I was there. I would have done more then thrown empty threats at him. But Emmett did work on the base as an instructor for new SEAL recruits. He was perfect for the job and he got to stay stateside with Rosalie who owned an auto repair garage not far from the base. It was a popular place for obvious reasons.

"Well he deserves it!" Alice snapped. "Letting Bella get hurt like that!"

I felt Bella stiffen beside me at the mention of what had happened to her. I quickly put my arm around her and pulled her closer, whispering reassuring words in her ear. It was a technique thought up by Bella's therapist.

When we got back to the states I knew Bella would need someone else to help her other than myself. Her therapist, Emily, was very helpful and had suggested techniques that included myself. Such as when Bella started to re-live her traumatic experience I was to hold on to her and just whisper any soothing words I could think of. I was supposedly her "anchor" as Emily said. Soon enough Bella would calm down and everything would go back to normal.

Some nights were worse than others.

I had welcomed Bella into my apartment not far from my childhood home. It wasn't much, since I didn't usually stay in the states all that long, but it was home. I promised myself that we'd find a nice little house just for us, or maybe a bigger apartment.

But some nights I'd wake up to find Bella twisted in the sheets and sweating as she whimpered continually. I held her most nights, just whispering words of contentment for hours until she finally fell asleep. But I knew that no matter how many times she did this, I would always stand by her because I loved her. It wasn't her fault, it was mine, and I was going to fix what I had so carelessly broken.

The banging of a pot made us all jump in surprise. My mother strode into the sitting room with a saucepan and a wooden spoon. "Dinner is served!" she cried out before leaving again.

Emmett jumped to his feet and ran towards the dining room with Rosalie rolling her eyes and trailing after him. Alice woke Jasper and carried their son out of the room. I stopped Bella before she got up, turning to look at her. "Are you all right?" I murmured.

She nodded, looking away. I took her face in my hands and made her look at me again. "I love you, all right?" I said.

She smiled. "I love you, too," she said before leaning forward and kissing me gently.

We had professed our love for one another a few days ago. I kind of blurted it out and she took it all in stride, kissing me senseless. Things had got pretty hot and heavy after that. We'd progressed to the point where we'd been making out on the bed, my hand teasing the hem of her shirt, when she suddenly had a memory. I'd stopped immediately and just held her while she cried. Sexual frustration level went up but so did my need to protect her. I wasn't going to leave her just because I wasn't getting 'something'. She was my life now, and I could never leave her.

Dinner with the family was interesting to say the least. My mother fired questions at Bella who seemed to be able to give responses quickly. Mum looked impressed and Dad just looked amused. Alice was across the table, feeding Mase mashed up peas and potatoes. She made hilarious faces when she stuck the spoon in the baby's mouth. He usually spat a lot of it out but Alice would just try again until he swallowed most of it. Jasper looked like he was about to pass out. I was just picturing his face falling right into his dinner. Emmett was telling any hilarious stories he could think of, Rose correcting the information he got wrong in most of the tales. Angela was still stuffing her face, complimenting my mother over and over again. Mum took an immediate liking to Angie.

Looking around the table, with its piles of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, vegetables and of course the bowls of gravy and cranberry sauce, I felt at home. The arguments and laughter echoed around the room and I never felt happier. Bella smiled softly at me, taking my hand under the table. Yeah. I'd never been happier.

Afterwards my mother brought out the chocolate cake and smaller desserts like creamed meringues and lemon tarts. It all tasted like heaven and before long we were stuffed.

Everyone was ordered to help clear the table and clean up. I was the last to bring in the dirty dishes so Mum gave me the task of taking out the garbage. Sighing, I did as I was told and took the two bags of garbage out to the bins in the garage. After dumping them I came back inside to wash my hands and join everyone in the family room.

I got there to find everyone talking quietly and watching one of those old Christmas movies on the television. As I looked around I noticed Bella was absent. Frowning I went to look for her only to find her alone in the sitting room. She was sitting in front of the fireplace, the room dark and the only light coming from the flickering flames.

I joined her, sitting on the floor beside. She looked up, startled, before smiling at me.

"Why are you all by yourself?" I asked in a whisper.

She shrugged. "I just wanted to listen to the music."

I looked up to notice that the stereo was still playing songs quietly in the background. I could even see, through the darkness of night that it was snowing outside. Smiling, I put my arm around Bella and let her lean against my shoulder. The crackle of the fire and the soft music was the only thing heard for a while until I finally decided to ask her a question that had been plaguing me all afternoon.

"What did my mother say to you when we came in?"

She giggled. "She was thanking me for making her son so happy."

I chuckled, pressing a kiss to her hair. "Well she was right about that."

There was another silence before I spoke up at the same time as she did.

"Bella, I have to ask - "

"Edward, I'm sorry - "

We both stopped, sheepish for a moment, before Bella continued. "Edward, I'm sorry for putting you through so much trouble. All these things about therapy and hospitals and bad dreams…I'm just so sorry that I can't be like a regular girl now…"

I hushed her. "Bella," I said, staring straight into her shining brown eyes. "I don't want a regular girl. I want you."

She laughed, rubbing the tears from her eyes. "Wow, was that cheesy."

I grinned. "I told you I was like my father."

She smiled again. "I'm just sorry that you have to go through all of this. I mean…we can't even…get intimate without me freaking out. You must be so angry with me." She looked away, rubbing her eyes again.

"Hey," I murmured, tilting her chin back up. "I could never be angry with you. I love you, Bella."

She wiped more tears from her eyes and I knew it was the time. It was the right moment. Slowly I reached over and took her hand in mine, then pulled us both to our feet. "Bella," I whispered. "I really do love you. And even though we've only spent a bit of time together…I don't want it to end. Ever."

She looked confused as I took a deep breath. "Bella," I said, my voice slightly shaking. "Bella…will you…" _Just say it! _"Will you marry me?"

She blinked, shocked. The time seemed to get slower and slower. It felt like forever as I held my breath and waited for her answer. She'd say no. I knew that she would say no. She didn't want to be attached to me. She just wanted me for now and then she would find someone much more worthy of her love. That would leave me alone again. How could I move on when all I thought about was her? How would I cope? How could I live? How could I –

"Yes."

I blinked in complete shock as she smiled timidly at me. Then I exploded with happiness, grabbing on to her and hugging her tightly. This truly was a Christmas to remember.

She giggled before clearing her throat. Confused, I pulled back to see her smiling at something over my shoulder. I turned and couldn't help but laugh myself. Everyone was peeking around the corner and watching us. I didn't know for how long but my mother and Alice had the premium spot.

They both leaped towards Bella and I, my mother engulfing me in a hug. "Oh!" she cried, tears in her eyes. "Another wedding! Another family member! _More grandchildren_!"

"Mum!" I laughed as she grabbed a hold of Bella. "Why are you thinking about grandchildren right now?"

"Because," she crowed before taking Bella's face in her hands. "You two will make the most beautiful babies!" Bella and I just looked at each other and laughed. As Alice and Mum talked rapidly about preparations for our wedding we were congratulated by the rest of the guests. My Dad hugged us both, giving me that proud look that every son wanted to see in his fathers eyes. And then, after Angie playfully cried, "thanks for stealing my thunder, Masen!" they all went back to the family room, leaving Bella and I alone.

I grinned, gathering her up into my arms. "Well, Mrs. Soon-to-Be-Masen," I chuckled. "What do you want for a wedding?"

She thought for a moment before grinning wickedly. "Las Vegas?"

I barked out a laugh and wiggled my eyebrows. "Las Vegas it is."

**x_x_x_x _x_x_x**

**Slang:**

**JAG – **slang for a military lawyer

**Author's Note:**

**1.** DONE! WOO! I loved that ending. And just remember, my boys have minds of their own. I just write down their stories. And now I am going to give out what each of my boy's futures turns out to be like. You guys can make up your own stuff but here's what really happens to them:

**Edward and Bella:** DO NOT HAVE KIDS! Just going to say that right now. Eddie goes to medical school and becomes a doctor in Chicago. They buy a nice little house and Bella changes her job to the Chicago newspaper. Edward was only called out to duty twice and came back with a broken arm one time but was fine after that. They now spend their life traveling around the world together.

**Jasper and Alice:** Jazz does get his job at Intel in New York and he, Alice and Masen move there. Alice opens her own bridal boutique, which begins to rival even the biggest names in fashion. Masen gets a little sister named Marie (their Aunt Bella's middle name) and they both grow up to be very intelligent adults. Alice and Jasper live their lives raising their children and visting family.

**Emmett and Rosalie:** Em and Rose have one kid named John who also grows up to be an intelligent adult. Emmett keeps his job as an instructor for years before he finally retires to help Rosalie with her garage. They spend their life going on road trips and fixing up cars.

**Mamun:** Moony returns to his family in London and lives there happily with his wife (Samiha) and three children (Oldest Boy: Aman, Middle Girl: Shakila, Youngest Girl: Kalila). All the kids grow up to be very clever and the whole family becomes close with Edward, Jasper and Emmett's family. One of Mamun's daughters (Kalila) actually marries Masen so yay!

**If you have any questions about any of the other characters lives, just ask.**

And **Tembo Bara **finally gets a new government, which the people voted for. Aid comes into the country and their economy begins to get better. New jobs arise, which gives the terrorists less power over the people and after a few years they are driven out of the country. This all takes a while and they are still suffering with a few problems but their future looks good.

**2. **A lot of the Christmas stuff in here has to do with some of my family's traditions. So some of the foods mentioned are things that I've had at family Christmas parties. Ex. sausage rolls, cream meringues and lemon tarts. They are included because it's all freaking delisious. **Word.** There is also my mothers love for Christmas music. She plays it for the whole month of December so I think I know my Xmas songs. lol

**3. **I got into the Journalism course at my college! Yay! And I also hope to win this short story contest from my local newspaper. You get $5,000 and a place in a creative writing class at a school for writers! Fingers crossed, everybody! FINGERS CROSSED!

**4. **Again, I dedicate this to my Mum who always reads my stories no matter how stupid they are and to my Dad who always supports me. They've given me so much in life and they just keep giving. I feel so lucky to have the greatest parents on this planet who are always there when I need them. This is the best I can give my Mum as of right now but I have promised to give back. A vacation for just her and Dad maybe? And yes Mum, my first novel will be dedicated to you and you can have the first copy. Love you, Mum! Love you, Dad!

**5. **AND love to all of my fans! I'm always blown away when I see how many people enjoyed this story. Every review, every favourite and every alert makes me giddy. I can't believe I have so many people who read my stories from all over the world! Just seeing the places that you all come from is amazing! I love the Internet! Lol

**And now it's time for you guy's to have a say! I've mentioned writing a new story about either Cowboyward or Undercoverward and now YOU have to vote! On my profile I've set up a poll. Just vote in there and we'll see who wins!**

**The rugged, outlaw?**

**OR**

**The suave, private eye? **

**YOU DECIDE!**

**GO TO MY PROFILE AND VOTE FOR WHAT STORY I SHOULD WRITE NEXT!!!**

**GO TO MY PROFILE AND VOTE FOR WHAT STORY I SHOULD WRITE NEXT!!!**


	10. Author's Note: Poll Results

The poll has now officially been closed! And the winner is…

**UNDERCOVERWARD!**

I know a few of you will be disappointed but I will try and make you interested with this story. And not to worry, Cowboyward will not be forgotten.

The title of the new story will be _What the Disguise Won't Hide_. Of course it will be a Bella/Edward fic and I will be again writing in Edward's point of view because I can apparently write well as him. It will be an all human fic again. In this story he will be a little bit of an arrogant bastard (he thinks he's God's gift to women) but of course that will change. I will say that I'm going up the maturity levels. No lemons…but maybe a few limes?

**Summary:**

Private Eye Edward Masen has always played the womanizer when going undercover but now he has decided to go a different route. Introducing Ted Cullen, extreme computer nerd and Edward in disguise. Let's hope his newest assignment isn't hot for geeks.


	11. VOTE VOTE VOTE!

**(This post has been fixed to include the correct URL!)**

**VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!**

Hey everybody!

It's been a while, I know. School took up my time, followed by an internship and now job-hunting, so I've been pretty busy. My muse for writing has been pretty low for a while now.

BUT I've got back into it all…sort of.

I know I've left you all high and dry with Wanted: Dead or Alive, and I promise I'll finish it ASAP, but right now I need your help!

I've submitted a story to this **contest **called **So You Think You Can Write**. The romance publisher **Harlequin** is holding it and the first prize is getting your story published. And if I get enough votes from the public **I might even get discovered by Harlequin!**

Soooooo…that's where you lovely people come into play! I need your help!

Voting begins **October 1****st** **2012 at 7 p.m. Eastern Time **and ends **October 11****th** **2012**.

Everyone can vote **once a day**.

My story is called **A Wyoming Match**.

Here is a link to my story and it _is _a **cowboy story**!

www. soyouthinkyoucanwrite dot com /manuscripts/ a-wyoming-match/

(INSERT PERIOD IN PLACE OF "DOT" AND REMOVE SPACES IN URL!)

Please, please, please vote for me! Whether you vote once or eleven times, I'm just thankful to have such great readers! You guys have been so supportive thus far and this one last push might actually get me published!

Thanks!

**VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!**


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